Francis T. Lawrence
Francis Tré Lawrence is an American visual artist and wildlife conservationist born in New York City. From a young age he was imbued with a passion for the natural world, and after graduating from the School of Visual Arts with a BFA, he traveled to Madagascar with his former painting professor and prolific wildlife Illustrator Deborah Ross, to serve as a teaching assistant at the Centre ValBio research institute in Ranomofana National Park, in which they hosted painting workshops and field trips designed to educate local Malagasy students about the wealth of nature endemic to their country and inspire them to protect it for the generations to come.
Francis would go on to conduct similar workshops while participating as an artist in residence at the Sacatar Institute in Bahia, Brazil, as he encouraged students to appreciate the natural treasures of Itaparica, and raise awareness about the ecological issues that affect the island. Seizing an opportunity to receive inspiration from first-hand experience, Francis returned to Madagascar in October of 2019, where he worked for the next five months at Centre ValBio as a research assistant on Dr. Andrea Baden’s Ruffed Lemur project, in which he and other scientific researchers collected data on wild black-and-white ruffed lemur(Varecia Variegata) populations in Ranomofana National Park. He later produced an illustrated manuscript collecting his observations made during the experience.
Francis continues to create artwork driven by his insatiable curiosity for all things wild. Though a biologist in his own right, he diverges from depictions of nature that are scientific or diagrammatic, and instead strives to capture the energy and emotion that he experiences when observing the natural world, inviting others to share in that experience. He hopes that his images can inspire viewers to discover and contemplate the nature present in their own lives, be it in the form of a Malagasy primate or a New York City pigeon, as he persists in advocating for the conservation of wildlife, and an internationally sustainable future that benefits all life on Earth.
