NOTES
Church Picnic conveys Helen LaFrance’s memories of Memorial Day gatherings. This one took place at the Shelton Chapel in West Viola, Kentucky, recognizable by the building’s characteristic white frame. Fields of bright yellow wheat in the background contrast with red flowers placed on the graves in the cemetery adjacent to the church building. During LaFrance’s youth, church was the mainstay of her community for meetings and social gatherings. The divergent scale of the people, cars, graveyard, and church itself are typical of the artist’s work. She used non-naturalistic scale and perspective to create flattened, almost decorative spaces.
