The artist known as Frenchy paints game day
Randy Leo Frechette a.k.a. Frenchy works on capturing the first football game in Yulman Stadium. His artwork will be available soon as a limited edition print. (Photo by Bradley Charlesworth)
It"s the morning of Sept. 6, 2014, and I"m driving world-renowned New Orleans artist Frenchy in a golf cart down Ben Weiner Drive on the day the Tulane Green Wave will play the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the first football game on the Tulane University uptown campus in nearly 40 years.
We"re headed for Yulman Stadium.
“Yeah, you right!” -- Frenchy
“Yeah, you right!” Frenchy shouts as we pull up to the Green Wave"s new 30,000-capacity home. He"s wearing a green shirt, dark sunglasses and some sort of WWI-era-type baseball cap. Every inch of him seems to be covered in paint splatters.
Randy Leo Frechette a.k.a. Frenchy was born on Aug. 16, 1970 in Lowell, Massachusetts, and has been drawing ever since he could grip a pencil. In 1997 Frenchy moved to his beloved muse, the City of New Orleans. He has painted Super Bowls, Saints games, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, MTV shows, and even the summer Olympics. He sketches and paints live at the actual events.
“Ashley Perkins from the alumni office contacted me and asked if I wanted to paint the first game at the new stadium. I said absolutely! This place is going to be such a great thing for Tulane and New Orleans,” Frenchy says.
We make our way into Yulman Stadium, and Frenchy sets up next to an ESPN camera crew at the top of the South Claiborne Avenue end zone seating (the “Family Fun Zone” directly across from the big scoreboard).
The Tulane University Marching Band is going through last-minute rehearsals on Benson Field and already the air is filled with anticipation and excitement.
When the Tulane football team runs out just before kickoff, the excitement is at full height, and Frenchy is a dynamo. He seems to be absorbing all the energy and passion coursing through the capacity crowd. He"s capturing the culmination of a 40-year dream live on canvas.
As New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees stated in a video message that played on the stadium scoreboard, “Nothing feels better than coming home.”
Limited edition prints of Frenchy"s painting of the first game at Yulman Stadium will be available soon on his website.
Will Burdette is director of marketing, communications and volunteer engagement for the Office of Alumni Relations
