Bio:
Francine Kay Affourtit (1975) is a Philadelphia based artist, educator and arts organizer. She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her MFA from Tyler School of Art as a Temple University Fellow.
As an arts educator, Francine has worked with various institutions and programs, including Tyler School of Art, The College of New Jersey, the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Smart Museum at the University of Chicago, and as a resident artist with Urban Gateways. As an arts organizer, Francine contributed to the development of several organizations, including the Student Union Gallery Program at SAIC where she served as Exhibition Director, as Co-founder of the exhibition organization VERGE that was active in Chicago from 1998-2006, and working with the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, first as Director of the EFA Studio Program and then as a development consultant until 2012.
Francine has exhibited her work internationally, including exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, the International Print Center of New York, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Werkstadt Berlin, and Castello 925 in Venice. Francine has attended several residencies globally, including The Skopelos Foundation for the Arts in Greece, The Experimental Printmaking Institute at Lafayette College, Cheltenham Center for the Arts in Pennsylvania, Kala Art Institute in Berkeley and Hospitalfield in Scotland. She is a 2017 recipient of the Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts, the 2014 recipient of the C.R. Ettinger fellowship at Second State Press, and the 2011 recipient of the Michael Mazur Printmaking scholarship at the Fine Arts Work Center.
Recent projects include the Traveling Suitcase Installation Project, a large-scale sculptural print installation that folds into a suitcase. Following the creation of the work at Dundee Contemporary Art in Dundee Scotland, the Traveling Suitcase Installation Project embarked on a six-city exhibition tour through Europe and the United States. And, Eye of the Beholder, a project in collaboration with Biennale Urbana (BURB) in Venice, Italy. The project began in May 2017 with a research and production residency in the abandoned military structure Caserma Pepe on the island of Lido in the Venetian Lagoon, coupled with a series of public engagements in collaboration with local and national organizations.