BIOGRAPHY
Angela Francis is a Canadian/ Grenadian artist. Active in female empowerment in the arts, she creates avenues to do what she loves while teaching others.
Angela studied Fine Art, and holds a certificate in Art Fundamentals from Georgian College (Barrie, Ontario). She also studied animation at the Art Institute of Toronto, before moving on to pursue many explorations of career choices the world had to offer before settling back into her passion for art. She travelled and worked in multiple fields for over a decade, while practicing human anatomy and developing the techniques of the masters.
Graduation, BA Visual Arts
Angela taught at T.A. Marryshow College (Grenada) before she continued her studies at the University of the West Indies (Trinidad & Tobago) where she discovered a different style of art, that creativity can be fluid and liberated. Here she obtained her Bachelor's of Visual Arts Degree.
Angela Francis, Raw Toronto Art Show, 2022
She absorbed the acute attention to form and balance associated with sculpture and photography, subsequently refining her own visual and conceptual vocabulary that emerged through her focus on the analysis of the grace and beauty of the human form. Using bright and vibrant colours she expresses her relatable experiences of women and empowerment.
Primitive Beauty, 2014
Angela’s artwork can be found in myriad of public and private art collections both in Canada and abroad, and has been seen in numerous exhibitions worldwide. She has been interviewed by multiple TV and newspaper reports and has also had her work featured in several publications.
Angela has won community awards for her ability to teach and connect through art. As well as being the VP on the board of directors at the MacLaren Art Centre, IN 2021 and having sat on the jury for the City of Barrie Arts Grants in 2020, Angela was also a juror for the Making Change organization, Black Youth Art Celebration in 2024.
Making Change for Black Youth, Art Celebration, MacLaren Art Centre, 2024
Angela continues to do courses, and mentor students, with Making Change, to be able to offer more to her students and share her gift and knowledge more. She is always pushing her practice in new directions and aiming for ways to improve.
Angela Francis is the founder of AFFA Studio in Ontario, Canada. She teaches art to non artists and provides an inclusive space for local professional artists to create. AFFA studio offers paint nights and parties, art therapeutically for mental health, art shows, retreats and a range of other experiences.
AFFA Studio, Fall Art Retreat, 2017
Her focus is to offer an inclusive space for emerging and experienced artists as well as people who just want to dabble a bit.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My fine art portrays a number of signature styles and themes and is a mixture of interpretations of emotions at the time of creating the piece. It is my visual form of communication, personal expression, gratification and her psycho-analytical representation of what I experience. I am hoping to express something deeper in the human experience than can be simply observed
Girl on Fire, 2020
My themes have the delicacy and grace of the female form in movement and texture. Displayed, is a sensuality of my own inner self and expels the feelings each vulnerable moment art can express to the viewer in a series of relatable experiences. My art has been a mirror for others to see themselves, rediscovering their own beauty, resilience and complexity. I am fascinated by the emotions integrated into a small tilt of the head , or a folded closed in shape.
"To achieve things you've never achieved before, you need to do things you've never done before" -JFK