From Their Hands to Yours
Stories from the Market
A Quiet Way of Seeing: Meet Artist Dominique Lecomte
The New Year arrived quietly, bringing with it a few extra minutes of daylight at the end of the day. Here in the Valley, we’re pulled back into routine … work, kids back to school and the steady rhythm of everyday life.
In today’s hustle and bustle, we sometimes forget the quiet, creative corners that don’t demand a spotlight, but instead offer a reminder of what matters. Job, bills and to-do lists often take center stage, while creativity waits patiently. We sometimes forget, but this is where the artists step in, whispering reminders of universal truths, simple lines and beauty woven into ordinary moments.
One of those artists is our own Dominique Lecomte, owner of Images, Voyages, Impressions, whose work reminds us to slow down and see the world from a slightly different angle.
Dominique grew up in Rambervillers, a small town in northeastern France, where he learned to appreciate the details of everyday life: simple forms, beautiful details and the rhythm of daily living woven into the world’s larger tapestry. From an early age, he wrote poems and short stories inspired by what surrounded him.
As an adult, Dominique studied philosophy at the University of Reims, earning his master’s degree before continuing his studies at the University of Dijon, where he completed an advanced master’s in philosophy. In 1985, he took a two-year sabbatical to pursue art earning a Certificate in Fine Art at the at École de l’Image. During this time, he exhibited his first works in oils, acrylics and etchings.
Alongside his artistic training, Dominique earned a master’s degree in French and completed certificates in linguistics and became a certified teacher in elementary education.
His path next led him to Cambodia working for the Cultural Services of the French Ambassy in Phnom Penh, at the Université Royale d’Agriculture. There, he helped reorganize the Department of French Studies, developing a four-year curriculum, training teachers, teaching classes and creating a library in collaboration with the university and the French Embassy.
Dominique arrived in the United States in 1994. At that point he specialized in woodcuts and linocuts, later turning to photography, as a form of a visual workbook. Over time, his photographs became the foundation for dialogues and short texts eventually leading to published books, eBooks and blogs.
We caught up with Dominique to talk about his work and what inspires him.
What made you decide on life as an artist. Your background involves many forms of expression. Why choose this way of expressing yourself?
It’s something I always wanted to do so I worked to achieve some kind of financial stability that would allow me to pursue my life as an artist without starving,
Yet I don’t think one chooses to be an artist. It’s more like an inner urge; a need that pushes one to explore different ways to express oneself and to share how one sees the world.
That’s why I studied art when I could afford it and then self-taught myself when I couldn’t. In fact, I tried many ways of expressing myself at first, then concentrated on relief printing techniques when I came to the USA because I didn’t have enough room to do something else.
Have your travels inspired you to photograph or capture what you see in your art?
Photography was my first means of expression when I was thinking I couldn’t draw, and it’s a very convenient way to record what I see during my travels. Sometimes I’ll use the photos directly by selling them, sometimes they’ll inspire my prints, or be the subject of short stories.
I always liked to travel. But I was thinking art would allow me to travel in order to show my work so that’s true to a certain extent, even though my travels related to art are mainly local.
I come from a city where there is a tradition of printmaking. In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were artists going from village to village selling their prints. I guess I’m continuing that tradition, going in my own way.
Does your art reflect how you view the world?
Yes, and this view is what I want to share with others to make them smile, create their own stories, dream, travel. I make my work to be simple, colorful, warm; to lead you on and off the beaten path. It must carry you away, amaze you. If you wish to take it home or share it with your friends, it means I reached my goal.
It’s beautiful how you capture nature and things we create ourselves … buildings and objects we choose to surround ourselves with every day.
Beauty is also in the mundane if you look for it …
True. You seem to paint or photo things that are everyday things. Things we see but not really see anymore because we see them every day and take them for granted.
I have a gift, I suppose, that allows me to see what’s funny or unusual in what surrounds us.
When I was a kid, I remember looking at the ceiling in my bedroom and seeing shapes and forms in the cracks that were there. I just extended that.
What inspires you to choose a subject? What do you want us to see?
At first, I was letting my imagination and feelings go free, using any support I could find in any shape or size I happened to find,
It’s obvious in my older works. Now, I’m more organized based on what I can show and how I want to show it. I decide on a theme every year, based on what I think people would like to have to decorate their walls, and on a format based on what I can put on my table when I show. I realized that sizes and themes are convenient from a business point of view, and they don’t prevent me from creating and using my skills, so it’s how I work now.
Even though we are all different, I think we all have a common experience that allows us to understand each other to a certain extent. I want to tap in that common experience when I create something so my work is easy to understand and to relate to because it shows something you already know, even if you had forgotten about it in your day-to-day busy life.
What do you want to share through your work?
That life is good, things can be easy and childhood wonder is never far away.
What are your most popular pieces?
For a long time, it was a photo of an old green bike next to an orange wall and the little prints of the birds, but as I create new images, it changes. Now the print of a seal, a cat or a barn in New Hampshire have been popular.
For photos, the ones with a frog or a cow make people smile so they tend to buy them frequently.
How can people find your work?
Most of my work is on my online gallery and you can send me an email at Imagesvoyagesimpressions@gmail.com or follow me on Instagram.
I also create self-guided tours in Boston, Chicago, New York City and Philadelphia. They combine photography, travel and writing, and I love to map unusual itineraries in big cities. Cities are like a big playground for grown-ups, and I concentrate on free museums, art galleries, architecture and parks. You can find them at https://citywalksSpace.weebly.com.
Be sure to stop by Dominique’s booth and explore his impressions of the world: the simplicity, warmth and gentle reminders hidden in the everyday things we see … or sometimes forget to see.