Françoise Véron-Stamp, the artist known as ''BOISE''
I was born in the 60’s in a tiny French Alps village, famed alpinism/extreme skiing location.
Born into the world of mountaineering, I was raised in the middle of alpine meadows and pristine natural settings crowned by majestic glaciers. My unusual childhood raised by mountain guide/Ski instructors parents, was spent not with doll play, but with exploration, adventures and imaginative pretend games always involving my outdoors surroundings. I did not possess many toys and had to use my creativity for entertainment. There was no TV, and internet was not even a concept.
I learned early on that imaginary instances can be worlds in themselves, and that necessity truly is the mother of invention. So I played make believe, turned twigs into swords, day dreamt (too much according to my teachers) and dressed up at every chance.
As a young woman, I moved to the big city (it was big to me) where I got my sobriquet ''Boise''. I studied Art at the French National Fine Art School in Grenoble while partly sustaining myself working as a ski instructor, a natural continuum to my family’s business.
I met my future husband and moved to Canada in the early 90’s and became mother of 2. During my motherhood period, I drove a lot of creative juice towards my children, their needs and activities. Elaborate costumes for Halloween, in the making for weeks and coming with all home made props, painting jams, quasi daily craft sessions and more. I also fervently studied Flamenco dance and soon was making complex Flamenco dresses.
Life with my physicist husband took me and my family to live in the USA, in France, in the Netherlands and finally back to Canada in 2002.
In 2011, after years of working in other fields in order to raise a living as a now single mother, I decided it was time for her to pursue her long-time dream of being a full time artist.
I exhibited my paintings in various Vancouver cafes, but also larger venues including, art shows and conventions such as the Vancouver Home and Design show, Art Lab, Art in the City, Autumn shift festival and a few exhibits in the French Alps as well.
In 2016, I discovered Body Painting, utterly fell in love with it, and my whole artistic trajectory shifted towards this dynamic art form which allows me to put together my skills as a painter, props, prosthetics and costume maker.
In that field, I have many accomplished projects and has been collaborating with number of photographers, videographers, models and artists including (amongst other) Mark Hemstock film production, Patrick Parenteau photographer, Armando Tura photographer, Monika Blichar of MAB venture, Tim Mado event organiser and Strvnge creature model and owner of Instrvnged entertainment production.
I have entered, placed or won in several Vancouver BC local body painting competitions, and has competed in the Body Painting World Championship in Austria in July 2018.
As a body painter, I am hired by individuals, event producers, or companies on various projects ranging from painting T’s on waiters, painting VIP corporate event hosts, to skull faces for Halloween or speed painting revelers at commercial parties.
After 4 years of body art, i can tell that i am not about to stop this particular journey, but with the advent of the Covid19 pandemic which is still not over, it has been hard if not impossible to paint people and i started looking back at the time before body painting and all the pieces of more traditional art that i still have and those i still want to paint, draw, design or fabricate. I just can' help it!!!
In terms of my influences, I am adamant about the great European graphic novelists such as Hugo Pratt, Milo Manara, Alejandro Jorodowski, Moebius, Francois Bourgeon, as well as North American power houses such as Bill Watterson, Norman Rockwell and Emily Carr. But also the unescapable classical and impressionist masters such as Vermeer, Goya, Renoir, Monet and Van Gogh. I also have a fondness for sculpture. My first artistic epiphany happened as I witnessed the incredible Gian Lorenzo Bernini ''The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa'' during a teen-hood visit to Rome.
Much of my creative background is also found in modern cinematography and I draw inspiration from the Sci-Fi, historical and fantasy movies.
Luc Besson, Terry Gillian, The Washowski sisters, Gillermo Del Toro, Steven Spielberg and classic franchises such as Mad Max and Star Trek, to name only a few.
“I am enthralled by the sensation of painting a living canvas, the feel of skin under the brush is second to none. I do not consider any project too small, not artistic enough, too easy or too hard for me. I take it all with humility, adaptability, patience and glee. Of course I adore the challenge of creating a whole piece, a whole concept, fabricating the stencils, the props and the prosthetics, marrying these with the painting aspect is a great pleasure. All these techniques are fascinating to me and the fact that this art is ephemeral hold a great attraction. I want to create wonderful and mystical creatures but I also want to instil reflection and thought as it is the role of artists to do so; body painting has much potential for this. I am only starting, I am still learning, will never stop learning, I have yet so much to do, so much beautiful and/or relevant body art yet to give to the world, I am going nowhere in my artistic path but where I am headed now!”
Quote by Boise, 3 May 2019.