A recreation of the Mona Lisa painting by Lucinda Drake is now displayed in a Franklin classroom. Drake’s work was featured in Franklin’s 2017 production of Annie.
Franklin junior Lucinda Fasce Drake is adept in a multitude of art forms. She is a well-versed writer of poetry and song, a skilled musician, an expressive actor, and an imaginative painter.
While she has been producing art since an age that was too early for her to recollect, Drake’s earliest memory painting was in preschool— on a giant canvas, she drew a stick figure woman with no arms. Throughout the years, she has devoted many hours of her free time to developing her artistic abilities. Her passion for art is evident to anyone who meets her.
The head of the theater department, teacher Josh Forsythe, said, “Lucinda is a really great kid and a wonderful person to work with. I really enjoy her dedication and creativity.” She has been acting at Franklin for just two years, but has already embedded herself in the theater community. Her openness to vulnerability makes it possible for her to improve her skills all the time.
Drake surrounds herself with friends who share a similar kind of passion. She loves to share creations and ideas with her friends. They exchange poems, songs, doodles, and photos to encourage each other in art-making. Although her friends encourage her, it’s people in general that inspire her. “I’m really interested in faces and expressions on faces; how they say as much as words. Faces really intrigue me,” said Drake. She pinpointed the largest influence on her art to be “humans and what they’re trying to say with their bodies and faces.”
Drake is very committed to continuing to create art. She equated the idea of giving up art with the idea of not wearing clothes; it is such a regular thing in her life that she could never consider quitting it. Art can be frustrating for some people when it doesn’t turn out they way they pictured, but Drake only finds it soothing and peaceful. She is sure that she will pursue a career in art and continue doing it for the rest of her life.
