Every month Brave Island runs a Young Creative of the Month fund, where we spotlight a local young creative with an interview on our blog, and support them with funding of £100. For December, it’s singer/songwriter and visual artist Luca Frankland. This fund launches at the beginning of every month, you can apply to be Young Creative of the Month for January here.
Please can you tell us about your creative practice?
Hello, My name is Luca and I am a singer/songwriter and artist living in Vtown (best place ever). I enjoy painting my environment and scenes from my own experience – particularly Ventnor at night – but I am looking to explore much more in painting in the future, but light is one thing I am very fond of catching in my work. I am a self taught painter – minus a few art lessons as a kid – and have been creating my entire life.
Apart from visual art, I am also very into my music, both listening and learning and making it. Music for me is such a huge part of my life and you’ll rarely see me without headphones. I always have a tune in my head and enjoy singing, something that had helped forming “The Missing” when my friend who played guitar presented the idea.
What are your next plans with your band The Missing?
Since our start in 2021 The Missing have played various gigs all over the island. Although we are all getting older and busier now and are at different schools, the band still meets and practices regularly, our next gig being this month. The band started mainly with covers but has been working towards releasing our own originals, some of which we have played live at venues such as The Anchor in Cowes and Strings.
Recently we had gotten studio time and recorded one of our songs ‘A Year Since’. My plan for music in the future as far as the band goes (The Missing) would be to keep playing and meeting consistently as well as creating more music as a group. Hopefully we will also see more gigs to come in in the future, I am planning on applying for another slot during Ventnor Fringe and hopefully we will be asked to play The Garlic Festival once again. We are also looking at applying to play on a small stage at Victorious Festival and Isle of Wight Festival as all our members are finally old enough to.
Individually, music is becoming more important to me as well since teaching myself guitar and recently picking up a bit of piano as well. I enjoy busking and plan to go busking on the mainland as well as around the island with my friend Daisy who comes to open mic nights with me and is part of a two piece group we have very recently formed.
What are you hoping to achieve with your visual art in 2025?
In 2025, I hope to achieve many things with my art. Recently I have been experimenting with art styles I don’t particularly like and purposely making things that might seem ‘ugly’ to open my mind to types of art I have not done much work in. Even if I only dip my toes in and still decide I hate it haha. I have also been experimenting with abstract colour more, trying to emulate art like Matisse’s and things from fauvism.
As an artist, honestly as a musician also, I am inspired by so many things around me including existing pieces of art and music and wanna create something entirely unique to me, but maybe it is not bad to see things I like in what I create. I plan to soon get my work in Peer Studios as well once I figure out more about creating prints of my work.
Where can people find your work if they’d like to support you?
If people would like to support me, they can follow my art Instagram @luca.makes.drawing or go to @themissing.uk for the band, as well as giving mine and daisy’s duo account a follow @daysi_and_luca.
