About
My name is Frances, I am an interdisciplinary artist based in Portland, Maine. I love my home very much. Maine has always been home. The moss is like a bed and there are so many blue bodies of water to swim and bathe in. I moved to NJ with my mom when I was pretty young and found that I love NJ too. Truly the the best pizza.
I have to make art because it's the only way I feel good. It's a sickness, and I will dramatically fall to a pitiful death of my deep depression if I don't make any. It's simply tragic. I just started taking Lexapro, which is this anti-depressant/anxiety pill, but aren't people just mai*icrodosing mushrooms these days? E-mail me if you have more info on this.
(see Contact info.)
Performances:
These performances are surrealist narratives situated in the theatre of the absurd. They are influenced by memories, dreams, which are more visceral than articulate. They focus on the mundane that is filled with unpleasant awkwardness and humiliation, while fully embracing it. Surrendering to the state of mind. There is theatricality in the work, which is significant in how controlled we are as human beings, and where we are submitting, willing, or able to lose some of that control. Also the theatre aspect, in how it's handled, cozies in surrealism and dreamlike aspects, blurring out our sense of reality.
Objects:
The objects in the work act the most as theatre objects. They are hyperboles acting as a mirrors to reveal things about the performer or ideas behind the performance. For instance, the toilet is really small and the person has their period. Or, the diva cup is fucking massive. Or a mom is a boob and becomes sort of like an octopus, that's maybe not the best mom but really loves the little boob baby.
The objects are usually made from recycled materials/papier-mâché or found objects.
Frances Hildreth is a multimedia narrator representing both the state of Maine and New Jersey. Her work utilizes video, performance, and absurdism to capture human experience on a planet of abundance that is controlled by a capitalist mentality. Frances earned her undergraduate degree at William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY (2015) and her graduate degree at the Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine (2020, yikes #pandemmy). She has shown work at New Systems Gallery in Portland, Maine, where she is currently living and continuing her artistic endeavors.
Paintings/Prints/Illustrations
My paintings, prints, and illustrations are similar to my performances, maybe a bit less humor. My paintings and prints are maybe a bit gloomier. They have more of a sadness to them. When I am painting or carving I am thinking more, whereas performance is such a bodily active expression. I think my paintings and prints are really more like journals that are more challenging for me to speak about or write about, so I have painted or carved about instead. But sometimes they can take forever because I'm pretty flippin' bad at articulation.
I rarely experiment with color, mostly because I am nervous I'll forget the mixture I have concocted. Also there are so many colors out there I love already. I still use my color chart from college and the one I made in high school as well to see what combinations of colors I could create. I am not this way in performance, there is no color chart for me there.
When I am doing carvings, it feels much more like creating performances. They are abstract and gestured, because I have less control in a way, and I like that. It's nice to have a little bit of all the things.
erotica
contains erotic illustrations and written material. I’m trying to intertwine this bit of work with themes of climate change & an ode to plants. It’s hard being horny these days in such a drought. Anyways, it’s evolving, revamping & learning new things along the way. You are welcome to request the password for the site by contacting me (or you can find it through the IG handle i made named, @fdheroticas).
