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Biography
&
Exhibitions

The artist at work

The artist at work
2023

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Garance MONFORT grew up in France in a family of artists. Her grandfather, Georges de Leon, a painter and printmaker was the original influence that sparked her creativity and the start of an artistic education.

She studied a wide range of art techniques such as drawing and painting in the artist’s atelier in Normandy, and later studied at Ecole des Beaux-arts of Cherbourg and Rouen for 5 years, before she graduated with a master in Art. She pursued her artistic carrier and studied a post diploma in history of art at the Sorbonne in Paris, as well as training to become an art teacher.

Life, travels and discovering the world, from Ireland, England, Australia to Switzerland, always drawing, writing and playing music, Garance settled in 2009 in Cambridge UK, where she worked as a french teacher.

She’s also a singer-songwriter and has been performing live, solo and with different bands singing Jazz, blues and rock. Garance’s artwork has been shown in galleries internationally, in Australia, Ireland, England, France and Switzerland.

She currently lives in Basel Switzerland where she paints in her studio and plays music.

 

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What inspired you to become an artist?

 

“I come from a family of artist, like my brother and father. My grandfather was the one who inspired me the most. He was a painter who used colors in a way that amazed me, creating light and an impression of reality and sincerity that touched me. I studied with him from a young age. He taught me a lot about drawing and observing the world. At 16 I turned my bedroom into an art studio, and started to draw with charcoal and paint with oil and watercolor, which I still use mostly today.

Is it something you have always done, or came to later in life?

 

“As far as I can remember, I have always drawn. When i was little, I would spend hours observing my brother drawing, we’d ask each other to draw things like monsters and animals. I’ve always been obsessed with drawing and writing what I see, I keep journals and sketchbooks since I was about 17.”

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What are your inspiration?

 

“I find inspiration in many things; music, stories, poetry, art, personal experiences and travels. I illustrate my songs and poems. I write everyday, when I’m at home and when I travel. I sketch people and places. I use these to create collages or paint with oil on canvas. Poets such as Sylvia Plath, Leonard Cohen, Arthur Rimbaud, Jacques Prevert have inspired me a lot. Surrealist and symbolist painters such as Odilon Redon, and Magritte in my early work. Cezanne, Turner and Monet for my landscape paintings. Pre-Raphaelite painters and illustrators: Arthur Rackham, John Waterhouse, Dulac, John Tenniel. Seascapes painter Ivan Aïvazovski". Contemporary landscape artits Marc Bohne and Ken Bushes are great inspiration in oil technic. And many more...

2024      Galerie Ecume Quantique, Portbail-sur mer, France

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2023      Galerie Espace Vide, Thun, Switzerland

 

2020      La Ferme de Renouville, Vicq sur mer, France

 

2018      Alliance Francaise Cambridge, UK

 

2017      Black Cat Cafe, Cambridge, UK

 

2016      Cafe du Theatre, Cherbourg, France

 

2014      Six Bells, Cambridge, UK

 

2013      Alliance Française, Canberra, Australia

 

2013      Australia National University Art Centre, Canberra, Australia

 

2012      Makers Gallery, Cambridge, UK

 

2011      Primavera Art Gallery, Cambridge, UK

 

2010      CB2 Bistro, Cambridge, UK

 

2009      Tour de l'horloge, Tourlaville, France

 

2007      Irish & British Film Festival, bibliothèque Jacques Prévert, Cherbourg, France

 

2007      Church Notre-Dame de Portbail, France

 

2005      Yaralt Gallery, Rouen, France

 

2004      Portraits, l'Americano, Cherbourg, France

 

2003      Estampes, Art's Cafe, Cherbourg, France

 

Group Exhibitions

 

 

2019      Prisma Art Gallery, Cherbourg, France

 

2017      Creative Reaction, Pint of Science Festival, Cambridge Brew House, UK

 

2016      Creative Reaction, Pint of Science Festival, St Barnabas Church, Cambridge, UK

 

2015      Creative Reaction, Pint of Science Festival, St Paul Church, Cambridge, UK

 

2014      Creative Reaction, Pint of Science Festival, The MayPole, Cambridge, UK

 

2013      Estivale des Ravalets, Chateau des Ravalets, Tourlaville, France

 

2012      Salon d'Automne, Galerie des Halles, Cherbourg, France

 

2012      Chateau des Ravalets avec Boudiou Design, Tourlaville, France

 

2012      Narrative, Williams Art Gallery, Cambridge, UK

 

2012      Normandie Bulle, Comic Book Festival, Darnetal, France

 

2010      Artist's Choice, Blue Leaf Gallery, Dublin, Ireland

 

2010      Mini-Prints, St Barnabas Press Gallery, Cambridge, UK

 

2009      Collages & Aquarelles, Tour de l'horloge, Tourlaville, France

 

2008      Comic Book Festival with Playcat, Cherbourg, France

 

2007      Hors les murs with Pep'art, Gallery des Halles, Cherbourg, France

 

2006      Normandie Bulle, Comic Book Festival, Darnetal, France

 

2005      Jeunes artistes, Normandie Bulle, Comic Book Festival, Darnetal, France

 

2004      Collective exhibition with Pep'art, Maison des arts, La Glacerie, France

 

2004      Collective exhibition with Pep'art, Salon des Ravalets, Tourlaville, France

 

2003      Graduates Exhibition Show, Gallery des Beaux Arts, Rouen, France

 

2003      Transplantation, Botanical Garden, Sotteville-les-rouens, France

 

2003      Reel et imaginaire, Art Gallery Du Bellay, Mont-st-Aignan, France

 

2001      Reflets d'Odalisques, Maison des Arts, La Glacerie, France

Exhibitions 

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Garance
Monfort
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