a
little over half a century ago,
Detroit was the place to be.
In the eyes of the wider world
at least, this was the “Motor City”,
the home of Motown, Aretha Franklin
and Iggy Pop, not to mention Diego
Rivera’s murals at the Detroit Institute
of Art. The demise of the car industry
and the middle-class flight to the
suburbs, however, saw the midwestern
US city spiral into bankruptcy in 2013.
On the plus side, the resulting wealth
of cheap real estate has encouraged
an influx of enterprising creative types.
And it is here that Felicia Forte
finds herself after a rather peripatetic
life to date. “My partner and I bought
a house a year ago,” she explains.
“We attempted to have a home
studio, which I haven’t had for a really
long time, but the jury is still out on
whether it is better or not. It was
really nice to leave the dishwasher and
the dog and whatever responsibilities
you have at home and go to the studio
and have nothing to do but work.”
The Los Angeles-born artist has
had that urge to create from an early
age. “I moved out pretty young, got
a job, got a car and drove myself to
art classes,” she says. She moved to
New Orleans, picking up occasional
portrait commissions without properly
committing to her art on a full-time
basis. “I was kind of afraid of trying,”
she says of this time. “To find out that
it wasn’t possible would have broken
my heart. I figured if I just did art on
the side, it couldn’t be taken away.”
IN THE STUDIOFelicia Forte
Ahead of her first UK painting workshops, the in-demand
American painting tutor and BP Portrait Award runner-up
shares her studio methods with STEVE PILL
When Hurricane Katrina forced her
to evacuate her home in 2005, she
moved to New York City and enrolled
at the Art Students League of New
York. In the crowded classrooms on
West 57th Street that count Georgia
O’Keeffe, Norman Rockwell and
Mark Rothko among their alumni,
she painted from life, three hours a
day, five days a week. Interaction with
tutors was minimal, yet their advice
was always pertinent. “I think I can
remember all three comments I got,”
she says. “Theywerereallyhelpful.”LEFT Time Traveler,
oil on canvas,
183x183cmABOVE A work-in-
progress photo
of Time Traveler