“God was the first Artist”

 

“God was the first Artist…” says French painter Jean-Claude Roy the visionary artist of the French Shore Tapesty. Jean-Claude was born in France, and developed an interest in painting while living in Newfoundland in the 1970’s. Since then he has become one of the best-known interpreters of the Newfoundland landscape, primarily working in oils with a palette knife. 

Artist: Jean-Claude Roy

His paintings can be found in public and private collections in Canada, the United States and Europe. Working with his wife Christina and the women of Conche Newfoundland, they brought the idea for the tapestry to life.  At first he only agreed to draw the first images but then he didn’t stop drawing. He spent three years creating the images that the women of Conche painstakingly embroidered.  His magnificent artistic work is the central thread through our film Phantoms of the French Shore, which airs on CBC Newfoundland and Labrador on the 28th of July 2012.