伊飞雪：童年梦想终于实现

一位栗色頭发的法国南部的女孩，从小就对与亚洲和中国有关的一切感到着迷。即使久居家中，她的思绪也早飞到云端，梦想着一场异国旅行。

12岁时，她买到一个中国舞狮造型的雕像，狮子泛着绿光，触摸它时还会摇头晃脑，她曾经许诺会将它一直珍藏，至今这只中国狮子仍然“住”在她国外的家中。

这个小女孩后来有个中文名叫“伊飞雪”。年轻时伊飞雪移居加拿大，在那儿定居并从事职业艺术家和老师的职业。成为母亲后，她也经历了分手，而后为儿子建了一个稳定的家。

2014年的一天，儿子来找这位母亲说：“妈妈，我准备旅行…… ”

这让她有了实现来到中国这一梦想的机会。

她决定提交一个艺术项目，在厦门的中欧艺术中心做一名驻地艺术家。凭借优秀的才华，她的艺术项目被选中，就在2015年夏天，她带着儿子在厦门待了两个月，专注于艺术工作。这是她第一次来中国，而这也成为她定期前往中国的一种机缘。

或许是冥冥之中的缘分，在完成厦门的驻地艺术项目前就收到了同年11月杭州的一场大型国际展览（亚洲，非洲和地中海国际艺术展）的邀请，她欣然接受，这成就了她第一次来到浙江杭州。

在她的印象中，大家都很热情。展览的主持人（中国美院的洛奇教授）与来自许多国家的艺术家组织了这次精彩活动。他们应邀参观了西泠印社、东阳木雕博物馆等。

2016年，她再次受邀访问杭州，漫步在西湖边，吃着杭州美食，参观良渚大屋顶文化博物馆（之后她也将在那里办展），并参观了浙江的青田石雕博物馆等。每一次参访，对于她来说，都是对当地文化艺术历史的新发现。

2018年，她决定迈出一大步，申请来中国工作。一所由人大附中和英国国王学院学校共同举办的中西融合课程学校——人大附中杭州学校向她伸出了橄榄枝。那一刻，她感觉整个世界都在告诉她，杭州就是理想之地！一个月内，打包装箱，就飞抵杭州并搬到了余杭区，开启了新生活。

对于她来说，最爱的杭州有美妙的氛围，在这座城市可以领略不同的“风景”。她喜欢在午后西湖边的木板路散步，欣赏黄昏，等待夜幕降临。她喜欢看湖上的灯光，湖边的美味。她最喜欢的是品尝西湖边各色的素菜馆，在那里享受中餐。

她喜欢龙井茶园，并在这一带散步。那一片风景，既离市区不远，又能藏身于这一片无尽的绿色中，真是太妙了。

她也非常喜欢现在的住处，可以走在运河旁，领略湿地风光，看着鸟儿掠过水面，欣赏夕阳。在忙碌了一天的工作后，她通常会走走路，清醒头脑，放松身体。途中遇到的旅人，他们也在同一时刻散步，享受时光，听着鸟鸣，看着出水。这通常是她最振奋的时刻。

自移居杭州以来，作为画家，她的作品受到了中国传统佛像图案的影响。自此，她开始研究周围许多不同设计中使用的不同形式、形状和图案，学习书籍、图像、建筑……她花很多时间观察自己在行走过程中看到的东西，在这里生活就像在一个开放式工作室里生活。即使工作过程与以往相同，但她感觉这些都在将她引向一个新的艺术方向。

作为一名艺术家，她对重复出现的图案和重复性元素无比着迷。居住到杭州的第一年，良渚文化给她留下了深刻的印象，她多次前往考古博物馆，并对那个时期使用的不同图案以及这些不同的艺术品非常着迷。过去的三年，她在自己的一些画作中融入了其中的一些图案。

她说，真的很喜欢在杭州生活，希望有更多时间去了解这个美丽的城市，了解这个城市的遗迹和历史。她的梦想是能够花更多的时间在创作上，并结识更多杭州本土艺术家。她也很希望有机会可以去中国美院继续深造学习。她说，在杭州有太多的事可以做，甚至穷其一生都不足以探尽这一切。

目前的大部分时间，飞雪女士都在人大附中杭州学校高中部教书。作为一名艺术专家，她拥有法国大学的美术硕士学位，并在加拿大、美国和中国都有任教经历。她非常热爱青少年教育工作，她认为青少年教育十分重要，因为这是人生中很特别的一段岁月，孩子在情感和价值观层面上都发生着变化，也因此充满了各种可能，很多人就是从这段时光开始慢慢找到自己梦想的方向。在课堂上，她尝试分享有关艺术史的知识和不同的艺术技巧，同时帮助学生发现表达自我的方式。

在杭州教书，她觉得非常幸运。她说，希望未来有更多的艺术家能来到这里，探索美丽浙江，发现美丽杭州的奥秘。

弗朗索瓦·伊萨莉（Francoise Issaly）是一位视觉艺术家，出生于法国，在移居杭州之前在加拿大生活了很多年。 她多年来一直在为儿童、青少年和成人教授艺术。 她曾在欧洲、加拿大、美国、马来西亚和中国展出。 她参与了许多项目，最近在青岛当代美术馆和上海立方美术馆展出。自2018年以来，她一直在杭州生活和工作。

（感谢伊飞雪提供照片素材）

When she was a little girl in the south of France， Francoise Issaly was fascinated by anything that was related to Asia， China in particular. Even though her family was quite sedentary， Francoise dreamt of other countries and pined for travelling.

She remembers buying a Chinese lion figurine at the age of 12. It was green and moved when someone shook it. Francoise loved it so much that she promised to herself she would keep it forever. And keep it she did： if you visit her house in Canada， you will surely see it.

Francoise has always dreamt of coming to China， but she has been told as often to “stop dreaming”. When she moved to Canada as a young adult， pursued her career as a professional artist and teacher， became a mother， divorced， and built a steady and stable home， it seems her dream would be no more than just a dream， until one day in 2014.

“That day， my son came to me and said：‘Mom， I am ready to travel...she recalled.

And with that， Francoise started “dreaming” again.

She decided to submit a project proposal as a resident artist at the China European Art Center in Xiamen， which was promptly accepted. During the summer of 2015， she was able to spend two months there with her son， focusing on her art. While this trip was her very first to China， it would become a sort of ritual for Francoise to travel regularly to the Middle Kingdom.

As fate would have it， before she was even done with her residency in Xiamen， Francoise  received an invitation to come to Hangzhou in November of the same year to participate in a big international exhibition （titled “The Asian， African & Mediterranean International Art Exhibition”）， which she accepted with alacrity. And that is how her story with Hangzhou all began.

She remembers how welcoming everyone was. The host of the exhibition （Professor Luo Qi of the China Academy of Art） had organized an amazing event with artists from many countries. The participants were invited to visit the Seal Carving Museum， as well as the Wood Carving Museum in another city， and many other places.

In 2016， she was invited again and had another fantastic opportunity to come to Hangzhou， walking by the West Lake， eating wonderful food， and visiting the Roof Culture Museum （where she will hold an exhibition later）， and many other areas of Zhejiang （the Stone Carving Museum in Qingtian， etc）.  There was always something new to discover.

In 2018， she decided to make the leap： applying for work in China. “RDFZ Kings college school made me an offer and it felt as if the universe was telling me that Hangzhou was the place to be，” she said. Within a month she had all the papers ready， packed her suitcase， and moved to the district of Yuhang， where she still lives.

What Hangzhou attracts Francoise most is the citys wonderful atmosphere and the different “landscapes” that people can experience. Walking on the boardwalk of the West Lake in the afternoon and watching the night slowly come down， and looking at the light on the lake and enjoying vegetarian food around...these are some of Francoises favorite pastimes.

She also loves walking in the tea fields， which are close enough to town but at the same time far enough to allow people to “get lost” in endless green.

The place where Francoise stays in now also piques her imagination. Stepping out of her house， she usually walks by the canal after a long days work， enjoying the wetlands， looking at birds flying over the water and  watching the sun set. It  helps clear her mind and relax her body. “I come across other people walking at that hour， enjoying the moment， listening to birds， and looking at lilies on the water，” she said. “This is often when I have my most inspiring moments.”

Another source of inspiration comes from teaching. Right now， Francoise spends most of her time teaching grade 7 to grade 9 at RDFZ Kings College School. With a masters degree in fine arts and having taught in Canada， USA and now China， she has developed a passion imparting art knowledge to her students. “I love teaching teenagers，” she said. “This is a time in life when so many things are happening on the emotional and personal levels， when everything becomes possible， and when a person starts having a better idea of what they wish to do later in life.” In her classes， Francoise shares knowledge about art history as well as different art techniques while helping students discover their own way of expression.

Since Francoise moved to Hangzhou， her artistic endeavors have been influenced by patterns of traditional Chinese and Buddhist paintings. She started studying different forms and shapes that are used in many different designs， especially those with recurring and repetitive elements，  from books， images， architecture， and even construction sites. She would spend many hours observing during her walks. To Francoise， living in Hangzhou is like living in an open studio.

One place in this “open studio”is the Liangzhu Museum. Impressed by the ancient Liangzhu culture when she first settled in Hangzhou， she has already visited the museum a number of times， studying the patterns used during the time and integrating them into her paintings.

“I am really enjoying living here in Hangzhou，” she said. “I just wish I had a little more time to learn about the area， about the historical sites， and the history. My dream is to be able to spend more time working on my artwork and meet more artists from the area， maybe artists from the China Academy of Art， and I would love to go and study there， either as a guest artist or as a PhD student.”

There seem to be so many possibilities for her， and she lamented that even a lifetime would never be enough  to explore them all.

“I hope the years to come will allow me to discover more of the mysteries of this beautiful city and this beautiful province.”

Francoise Issaly is a visual artist born in France， who lived in Canada for many years before moving to Hangzhou. She has been teaching art for many years to children， teenagers， and adults. She has hold exhibitions in Europe， Canada， USA， Malaysia， and China.  Francoise has been living and working in Hangzhou since 2018.