By By Jessica Lewis

Professor of Fine Arts, Laurie Fendrich, spent five weeks this summer in Ménerbes, France. Fendrich was accepted into the Brown Foundation Fellow program, and was presented with the opportunity to stay in France to live and work on her art.
The Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, Texas coordinates the Brown Foundation Fellow program. The program was created for writers, artists and any others in the field of arts and humanities to live and work in the Dora Maar house, in Menerbes, France. It is an application-based program, which requires recommendations, along with several samples of work.
Fendrich has worked as an abstract painter for over thirty years. “I combine different things that I love with modern art. They are very improvisational.” Fendrich says as she describes how she creates her art. “They are tedious to make, it is not exciting but I love making them,” Fendrich comments on her works.
Fendrich spent her time in France working on a portfolio of drawings that will be open for viewing at the Gary Snyder Project Space in New York City on November 5. In her time in France, Fendrich said that she was able to complete thirty-three drawings in the five weeks, but says that she “generally draws 20-30 drawings a year.”
“The fact that the grant gave me a specific time and a beautiful place in which to work, gave me an incredible sense of intensity. It brought out more and better work from me than any situation I ever had. I worked with incredible concentration, and hours would go by without my noticing,” said Fendrich on the Brown Fellowship. “Every day was just about my art. I would get up and take a three-mile walk around the village, going in different directions each day. I would come back, get some coffee, and hit the studio at 11 am and work non-stop until dinner,” Fendrich said.
 The program also ships all the necessary art supplies to the artist and then takes care of shipping the artwork back to the artist upon returning home. The Brown Foundation only asks that the artist leave them with one work made during the fellowship.
Fendrich positively comments on the program that “The chance to live in this house in a beautiful part of France to be taken care of this so your not worrying about anything I never had before and I don’t think ill ever have it again.”
Though in a setting made that it is easy to forget about daily life and focus on art, Fendrich still thought about teaching.  “I love teaching and I love engaging with young people. I especially love the way young people teach me a lot about how the younger generation sees the world,” Fendrich said about teaching and her students. “Its not that I teach students to do art the way I do it. I am an artist involved in the contemporary art world and I try to impart to my students a perspective that’s from that engagement. I think it’s important that college professors bring professional engagement with their subject into the classroom.”
Current student of Fendrich, Brittany Bieber comments that, “She [Fendrich] is a very dedicated artist, with an openness for creative criticism toward her students.”
After this rare opportunity “Students should look for fellowships because guess what? They’re out there.”
 

(Laurie Fenrick)