Frances Swigart

     Frances Swigart is a Carrollton-based, New Orleans born Artist. Her family has been in New Orleans for 4 generations now. Swigart works mainly with the 15th Century craft of printing, which she uses a 100-year old Kelton spider printing press to do.  

     Printing originated via armorsmiths making decorative armor. They discovered that if they covered a piece of copper in wax and then carved a design into it, they could then etch the design into the copper with chemicals. From there, an armorsmith could then cover the etched plate in ink and run it under a printing press to create a portfolio of their designs. After the technique was invented, painters began to use it to mass reproduce paintings. After all this time, the craft really hasn’t changed that much and Swigart uses many of the same techniques as when the craft first originated.  

     Swigart tributes her artistic beginnings to her family, where all the women have been artists. She says that she never “decided to be an artist”, instead she naturally picked up skills from her mother and grandmother. She recalls that she first noticed this back in Kindergarten when she began to draw a sprig of Ivy in class instead of doing schoolwork. Swigart says over time she just gravitated to creating art, particularly with sewing which she learned from her grandmother. Swigart says she even blocked out other hobbies to continue creating art, even asking Santa Claus for art supplies every Christmas. She lists her grandmother as a large influence in her life, teaching her to practice and practice until she had her craft absolutely perfect.   

     It was only when she attended Newcomb College as an art major that she was introduced to printing. She took a printing class that introduced her to the craft with James Steg her freshman year. She immediately loved it, especially the mechanics of how to make the plates work for the outcomes she wanted. It wasn’t until she told her father that printmaking was her medium of choice that she discovered that her grandfather, who died before she was born, was also a printmaker. Unfortunately, none of his work survives to the present day.   

     Growing up, Swigart loved natural objects, especially shells, which she would then make watercolors and sketches of; focusing on making every detail exactly real to life. Sadie Irvine, potter and former manager of the Newcomb Guild, taught Swigart art in High School and further cultivated that love of nature in her. It wasn’t until she was introduced to abstract painting by Ida Kohlmeyer in college that her style began to change. From photo realistic, Swigart would then alternate with incredibly abstract ideas. Now, Swigart says she’s putting everything together, combining the two into her current style. Now, she says, she endeavors to create beautiful art pieces that inspire emotions in others.  

     Swigart says the world around her, including her garden, is a big source of her ideas. New Orleans, a port city awash with multiple cultures and energies, is another wonderful inspiration for her art. The city inspires her to create new images without regard for boundaries.  

     When speaking about her artistic process, Swigart says she likes to go directly to the medium that the final piece will be. She draws the first drawing on the copper plate, etches it, draws it again, and then proofs it. Conducting that process at least 5 times. Interestingly, Swigart says that she’s alway unsatisfied with her first one or two images and it really requires work to make it into something that she enjoys. But she says that she's always confident in herself to eventually achieve that. Contrary to what you might think, Swigart says that etching on copper plates is a very flexible process with what techniques you can use and you can even sand out mistakes. 

     Swigart mainly does monoprints, which means that every piece she prints is different. Even when she prints the same plate, there are always subtle differences caused by the handcrafted process.  

     Out of all the places she’s lived in New Orleans, Swigart says that Carrollton is her favorite, citing the peaceful neighborhood and friendly neighbors. It allows her some independence with an easily reachable social circle. “It’s easy to be home here,” Swigart says about Carrollton. 

 You can find more about on Frances Swigart on her website: https://www.francesswigart.com/