By Dominic Abassi

‘A wonderful talent in our midst:’ painter Francine Peters remembered for impact on Nanaimo

Apr 10, 2019 | 11:35 AM

NANAIMO — A world-renowned artist whose career blossomed in Nanaimo is being remembered for her lasting legacy in the Harbour City.

Francine Peters passed away in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in late March. She rose to prominence living in Nanaimo working under the name Fred Peters in the late ’90s and early 2000s before transitioning to Francine and moving to Mexico.

Peters’ rise to fame as a painter came under unique, if not unprecedented, circumstances.

Based in Nanaimo but working as a trucker and road builder in northern camps, Peters grew tired of a lifestyle filled with rough jobs, drinking and gambling. In search of a new hobby, Peters took up drawing and painting. Realizing Peters’ skills were far beyond that of an average hobbyist, her then-wife urged her to give painting a shot as a career.

Within years, someone who didn’t pick up painting until mid-life was seeing demand for hundreds of pieces per year from galleries around the world.

Big ticket projects

'It's tied to population growth': RDN to expand Nanaimo sewer capacity

41m ago

Frequent visitor

Conservative leader delivers crime, drug and housing plans during Nanaimo pre-election stop

19h ago

nearly complete

New central Nanaimo light-signalled intersection about to open

Jan 14, 2025

“It’s a very inspirational story…It’s not too late because you didn’t do something at 18-years-old. If you’ve got the talent, you should pursue it, even if it’s later in life,” said Lynn Welburn, former longtime arts editor of the Nanaimo Daily News.

“She showed others (in Nanaimo) it was quite possible to be an artist in what some people might consider a bit of a backwater, off the well-known artists track. And to become really successful, world success, with shows in New York and back east in Canada.” 

Welburn said as Peters’ fame grew, her impact on the style displayed by younger artists in Nanaimo was obvious.

Her vibrant and playful pieces also introduced people around the world to the West Coast.

“She painted so many things that just had that exact Nanaimo feel. The buildings, the mountains, the water, the beautiful trees. The things we often take for granted because when we live there it’s part of us. But when you see it portrayed in a work of art, there’s no doubt what she was painting. She was painting the West Coast, Nanaimo,” Welburn said.

Perhaps one of Peters’ most lasting marks is her continued financial support of the Nanaimo Museum.

Debbie Trueman, former manager of the museum, said she commissioned Peters to create a piece for the program at a 2004 conference. Peters did not ask for any royalties or licencing rights to the piece.

“We’ve used the rights to that image and reproduced hundred and hundreds of things in the gift shop,” Trueman said. “We raised a lot of money for the museum with this wonderful image.”

Trueman said the iconic piece has “taken on a life of its own” and is sought by both tourists and locals. She said Peters was a strong supporter of the museum as well, attending its opening in 2008 and donating another painting.

Joseph Brant, formerly with the publication Out & About PV, wrote about Peters finding inspiration and a new life in Mexico and befriended the famous artist.

In an email to NanaimoNewsNOW, he said Peters had an “engaging, completely unapologetic” smile and was well-known and beloved in the Vallarta community.

Brant said Peters, like many in the trans community, was troubled emotionally despite finding a new sense of self in recent years.

In her final correspondence, Brant said Peters asked people to “Remember the good stuff, ok?”

“And it’s the ‘ok,’ the question, that chokes me up now, (over) a week later. It’s gentle. It’s humble. It’s asking for agreement. So we have no choice, in that case, don’t we?,” Brant wrote.

Welburn said she’s still trying to process the news of Peters’ passing and is remembering a “wonderful, bright spirit, who struggled with a lot of different things.”

She said for her, it underscores the importance of supporting all artists in every community.

“Amazing artists come in all sizes, shapes, colours and forms. Look at the art and appreciate it and don’t necessarily worry about who painted it and what the name is,” Welburn said.

“We need to appreciate what a wonderful talent we had in our midst there in Nanaimo for many years. And even when she moved away, she was still kind of a Nanaimo girl at heart in certain ways.”

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi