She Remembered It All

“When Helen LaFrance picked up a paintbrush, her thoughts took flight, soaring like a bird across a world remembered, back to a place that used to be.”

She Remembered It All: The Art of Memory Painter Helen LaFrance, a children’s book, explores the life and art of Helen LaFrance, a Kentucky memory painter and outsider artist who captured a lively, vibrant view of rural life in a changing world. Her nearly century-long creative journey began at age five when her mother taught her to draw and later to paint with pigments made from berry juice, laundry bluing, and plant leaves. LaFrance developed a unique style of creative expression and worked outside the conventional art world. Her work has been compared to other well-known outsider artists like Grandma Moses, Horace Pippin, and Clementine Hunter.

“What a great tribute to Kentucky’s own ‘Black Grandma Moses!’ Helen LaFrance is my favorite painter. I’ve spent hours looking at her art, amazed at the renditions of the people and the places she remembered—the detail, the loving way she brought the old-time days to life. She was a genius talent from right here in Kentucky which makes me very proud. Jayne Moore Waldrop is a sort of genius too for bringing Helen LaFrance’s life to us in living color with this children’s book!”

—Crystal Wilkinson, Kentucky Poet Laureate 2021–2022 and author of Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts