Ten Thousand Villages welcomes Haitian artist Jean François Frisnel as the February 2025 Artist of the Month. His paintings will be on display in the Ten Thousand Villages store during the month of February. The public is invited to come to a reception to meet the artist at 2 pm, Saturday, February 22.

In 1979 Frisnel was born in Carrefour, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He now resides in Lima, Ohio. He says this of his art career:

“When I was 14, I met Daniel Francisque, one of the most famous Haitian artists.  And my painting journey started with him when I just turned 19. After graduating from High School, I traveled to the Dominican Republic to study art and art history. I studied drawing at the Puerto Plata Jundamiento School. Later I went to study at an Art academy called L.I.C.A in Santiago. In this school I studied drawing, painting, and sculpture. I never got tired of studying. A little later I went to study at the UARSD University which is in the city of Puerto Plarta. I studied painting, drawing, and Interior Design. Later, I traveled to Brazil to get a master’s degree in one of the largest art schools in Rio de Janeiro, called Parque Large.”

Frisnel has had national and international exhibitions and has taken part in many art salons and contests, winning many prizes. His art spans from impressionism to surrealism, to naïve or primitive styles. His works can be found in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Spain, France, Brazil, and the United States. 

Now his work can be found in Bluffton at the Ten Thousand Villages store, mingled with the vibrantly colored recycled metal wall hangings for sale.

Ten Thousand Villages’ connection with Haiti is not new. A series of metal art wall hangings is permanently displayed in the alley between the store and the Shannon Theater. These were made by people from a non-profit organization called Comité Artisanal Haitien (CAH,) which was founded to help rural people earn income, reducing the flow of migration from the countryside to the city. Artisans clean recycled oil barrels, cut and pound them into patterns and shapes, and often paint them with bright colors. 

According to the Ten Thousand Villages blog, “cut metal artwork was originally developed in the 1930s to create decorative crosses for marking graves and honoring the dead. On this island with so few economic resources, people must rely on imagination, and something as humble as a 50-gallon oil drum, is liable to become something much more significant.” Ten Thousand Villages has been importing these creations to North American markets since 1978.