Frances Russell Allen

2014, wood pain, and metal armature, SCAD MOA, Savannah, GA

Responsibilities included painting and install of Submerged in SCAD MOA in preparation of deFine Art. 

2013, photograph, seed, and dirt, 9" x 12"

2013, photograph, seed, and dirt, 9" x 12"

2013, photograph, seed, and dirt, 9" x 12"

2013, photograph, seed, and dirt, 9" x 12"

2013, photograph, seed, and dirt, 9" x 12"

2013, photograph, seed, and dirt, 9" x 12"

2013, photograph, seed, and dirt, 9" x 12"

2013, photograph, seed, and dirt, 9" x 12"

2014, seed on paper, 8 1/2" x 11"

Tell of one time in your life that you got “uprooted” and had to make a new environment for yourself.  Do you regret that you ever got uprooted in the first place? How will your current “environment” change with time.  Describe your idea of comfort and safety- what does that look like in your life right now?  How do you think this idea will change in the future?

age 18, date 2003

My wild antics from the last three years had finally culminated in a DWI.  After a cry for help, I found myself in a residential treatment facility outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  I lived there for seven and a half months to the day.  I put up pictures, bought knick-knacks, kept it immaculately clean and had my own bedding.  I, being my parents’ child, did things to make my half of the cabana look like home.  In a place that would never be mine, I felt like I needed enough of my real life to keep me from focusing too much on my current situation. 

2014, seed on paper, 8 1/2" x 11"

Tell of one time in your life that you got “uprooted” and had to make a new environment for yourself.  Do you regret that you ever got uprooted in the first place? How will your current “environment” change with time.  Describe your idea of comfort and safety- what does that look like in your life right now?  How do you think this idea will change in the future?

age 81, date 2014

At our age, our health seems to determine many things.  I guess my idea of comfort and safety is having Papa right here with me and knowing that Todd has a family.  That too will change.  Either Papa and I will go to our heavenly home.  God has been with me my entire life even when I didn’t realize it.  My peace comes from knowing that God is in control of this universe and (my life) and nothing takes him by surprise.  Papa and I have been very blessed with a loving family and a great support group of Christian friends.    

2014, seed on paper, 8 1/2" x 11"

Tell of one time in your life that you got “uprooted” and had to make a new environment for yourself.  Do you regret that you ever got uprooted in the first place? How will your current “environment” change with time.  Describe your idea of comfort and safety- what does that look like in your life right now?  How do you think this idea will change in the future?

age 14, date 2006

I don’t remember the moving process at all but what I do clearly remember was the transformation of my bedroom.  My bed and all my belongings were in the basement living room.  I spent many early mornings sleeping on the floor in my sisters’ room because the sound of hammers was too loud to sleep in my makeshift room.  And although it was a weird experience I enjoyed it because I got to be a part of every decision made in regards to the construction of my room.  I wrote my dreams on the beams before the dry wall went up, I picked out the paint and every piece of furniture.  And I even got to have my grandmother’s antique chandelier hanging above my bed.  That was the first time I created a home for myself.  A big soft pink bed and all my things having their own spot created comfort and safety in my space because its what I could control.   

2014, handmade paper, 8 1/2" x 11"

Tell of one time in your life that you got “uprooted” and had to make a new environment for yourself.  Do you regret that you ever got uprooted in the first place? How will your current “environment” change with time.  Describe your idea of comfort and safety- what does that look like in your life right now?  How do you think this idea will change in the future?

age 24, date 2012

For a whole tangled nest of reasons, everything culminated into an emotional breakdown the likes of which I hope to never know again.  I spent days in bed in tears, unable to get up.  Whatever the reason, I felt forced, by my inability to cope or function to move back to Dallas into my parents’ house.  This move was not my choice at all.  It was the weakness of my body and mind.  I did not want to go. 

And I do not really think home functioned as a nest or a comfortable place.  I did not feel comfortable, though I was taken care of by my mom and dad.  There were things in place there like good food in the fridge, built in companions, and two friendly dogs.  Even when I felt low or uncomfortable (most of the time), people had already done the important things like cleaning and shopping.  It was a time to rest. 

2014, seed on handmade paper, 8 1/2" x 11"

Tell of one time in your life that you got “uprooted” and had to make a new environment for yourself.  Do you regret that you ever got uprooted in the first place? How will your current “environment” change with time.  Describe your idea of comfort and safety- what does that look like in your life right now?  How do you think this idea will change in the future?

age 19 & 21, date 2009 & 2011

I went to Turin and lived in Europe for a few months.  As I think of the time now, part of me waxes nostalgic for that freedom: wandering cities alone, buying bottle after bottle of Barbera and Dolcetto (two Piedmontese specialities), deciding on a whim to go to Krakow or Dublin.  Part of being human beings is our desire for total autonomy.  I went to Europe to feel a sense of self-definition and self-direction.  Then it went to shit, or wasn’t what I thought it’d be.  The time in Europe and the tour with the Sixers were dreadfully lonely and unstable points but also wonderfully ecstatic.  Part of the creation of a new self, I think. 

2014, seed on handmade paper, 8 1/2" x 11"

Tell of one time in your life that you got “uprooted” and had to make a new environment for yourself.  Do you regret that you ever got uprooted in the first place? How will your current “environment” change with time.  Describe your idea of comfort and safety- what does that look like in your life right now?  How do you think this idea will change in the future?

age 8, date 1995

In ’95, category 5 hurricane Luis destroyed our family home and we barely escaped with our lives.  We had to start back from the beginning losing everything we had and having to rebuild our home from the ground up.  I don’t regret the feel and the love of the new house as it was built stronger and with more character, but I do regret what losing our first built home did to my father.  He must have felt like less of a man for not having built a house strong enough to protect his family in the first place, and this mixed with many other deeply seeded issues resulted in my father’s suicide 16 years later.  Since my father’s death, the ideas of comfort and safety have completely changed.  He was the one who helped me live, took care of my college finances, and received teary phone calls requiring advice.  Now, I feel hardened and I will probably never be taken care of again.  This is okay, it is the perpetual cycle of life and all that bullshit.   

2014, seed on paper, 8 1/2" x 11"

Tell of one time in your life that you got “uprooted” and had to make a new environment for yourself.  Do you regret that you ever got uprooted in the first place? How will your current “environment” change with time.  Describe your idea of comfort and safety- what does that look like in your life right now?  How do you think this idea will change in the future?

age 8, date 1999

The first time was death.  My Grandpa Eli died on my eighth birthday.  That August, while he was eating tomatoes and salt, I told him I would really like to have a whale for Christmas- I figured he would have to stay alive to figure that out.  He passed away and I watched my family turn to straw.  That night, my five year old brother went to the basement and assembled his old crib to sleep in.  I found him crying wishing to be a baby again.  It was the first time I learned to be sad.

I was becoming aware of the responsibility of emotion, how attractive it was to have it together.  I recall cutting out the faces of Victoria Secret models and The Spice Girls and placing them around my room because I thought they were doing a really good job at not being sad.  

2014, seed on handmade paper, 8 1/2" x 11"

Tell of one time in your life that you got “uprooted” and had to make a new environment for yourself.  Do you regret that you ever got uprooted in the first place? How will your current “environment” change with time.  Describe your idea of comfort and safety- what does that look like in your life right now?  How do you think this idea will change in the future?

age 2-22, date 1993-2014

My family has moved a lot.  I’ve switched schools a handful of times, I’ve been able to leave my home-state to pursue education in different forms and in different places, but at some point I stopped looking at those changes as negative times of uncomfortability and, for better or for worse, began to crave those sort of times of complete reset in my life.  When things begin to feel too stagnate or routine after a few years of ‘staying in the same place’ a fight or flight mentality begins that’s because I use change and life moving on as an excuse to deal with the sadness or uncomfortable feeling that comes with something that is about to change.  A convenient excuse maybe. 

2014, handwoven cotton, dirt, and seed, 17" x 17" x 3"

2014, handwoven cotton, dirt, and seed, 17" x 17" x 3"

2014, handwoven cotton, dirt, and seed, 17" x 17" x 3"

2014, handwoven cotton, dirt, and seed, 17" x 17" x 3"

2014, handwoven cotton, dirt, and seed, 17" x 17" x 3"

2014, handwoven cotton, dirt, and seed, 17" x 17" x 3"

2014, handwoven cotton, dirt, and seed, 17" x 17" x 3"

This set of three installed for an exhibition featuring primarily textile works in Savannah, GA.  

2014, handwoven cotton, dirt, and seed

2014, handwoven cotton, dirt, and seed

2014, handwoven cotton, dirt, chair, and seed

2014, handwoven cotton, dirt, chair, and seed

2014, handwoven cotton, dirt, and seed

2014, handwoven raw silk and live moss, 72" x 72"

2014, handwoven raw silk and live moss, 72" x 72"

2014, handwoven raw silk and live moss, 72" x 72"

2014, handwoven raw silk and live moss, 72" x 72"

2014, handwoven raw silk and live moss, 72" x 72" 

SCADstyle commissioned me to create six 72" x 72" handwoven table overlays to be exhibited at a dinner event which featured guests such as Alexander Wang, Domenico de Sole, Prabal Gurung, Eddie Borgo, Danielle and Jodie Snyder of DANNIJO, Steven Kolb, Quentin Jones, William Sofield, among many more.  

Photography by Adam Kuehl

2014, handwoven raw silk and live moss, 72" x 72" 

SCADstyle commissioned me to create six 72" x 72" handwoven table overlays to be exhibited at a dinner event which featured guests such as Alexander Wang, Domenico de Sole, Prabal Gurung, Eddie Borgo, Danielle and Jodie Snyder of DANNIJO, Steven Kolb, Quentin Jones, William Sofield, among many more.  

Photography by Adam Kuehl