Meet Franchesa Kirkpatrick | Poet,Artist,and Muse Creative

We had the good fortune of connecting with Franchesa Kirkpatrick and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Franchesa, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I was born naturally creative. I am a storyteller, poet, visual artist, songwriter: a
creative. Recalling my childhood years, I spent summers in Kentucky with my
grandmother. She did a bunch of creative activities to introduce me to what it was like
being an artist. Around the age of five, I moved to Music City, USA, Nashville,
Tennessee. The Opryland amusement park was full of art and music and became, for a
time, my playground. My elementary school, Old Center, in Goodlettsville had a
wonderful Arts program. I met June Carter Cash there one day when she came to our
school to play music for us. She was the wife of Johnny Cash and she played many
instruments including the autoharp. The teachers took us on many historical field trips.
I believe those helped to nurture my creative spark. Middle school gave me plays and
the drive to become an actress. For four years, my acting teacher was Peggy Anglin.
She had once taught Oprah Winfrey at East High School. My first commercial was for
a McDonald’s in Lexington, Kentucky. Ronald pushed me in a swing. In Nashville, I
was in a news commercial going down a slide at a local park. My first film was the
Hank Williams, Jr. biopic on CBS. My last big acting project was acting on six seasons
of ABC’s Nashville tv show. I currently help with groups like NECAT, the Nashville Film
Festival, Tennessee Screenwriters and Nashville Auditions, just to name a few. With
my poetry, I am proud to say that I belong to many groups worldwide. During the
pandemic, we stayed connected through Zoom. These connections led to the creation
of my own page on Facebook called Shakespeare’s Muses Write. A couple of years
ago, I visited Shakespeare’s birthplace on his birthday and have read my poetry in such
exciting places as Paris, France and a castle in England. Bristol, in the UK, hosted an
event celebrating my poetry around my birthday. My artwork has been in the Frist Art
Museum, the Vanderbilt Curb Center and in homes in private collections. I currently
instruct others at libraries and coffee houses how to paint and do other artistic
activities. I am always looking to branch out and pursue new creative opportunities.
Life is an adventure and, for me, art is a big part of the fun.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I belong to a community of poets. I developed my own way of writing stories and
combining stories and visual art. For many years, I was a teacher who taught special
needs students. Now, I am disabled myself. My handmade children’s books are small
with short, easy to read, simple sentences. They are filled with easy to look up facts
and there are things you can touch on every page.
I had to build a brand from scratch. Catwoman came along as one of my personas I
inhabit within my poetry community. I was visiting other poets wearing my cat ears
and tail. I found a cat costume later and a cat mask. This cat thing runs deep with me.

Here is a true story, and my DNA is involved, as well. On my grandmother’s side, I am
related to the Cates. Farther back, they were also called Catsby. Another story is that,
many years ago, when I was in Greece, I visited the Oracle at Delphi. Early in the
morning, just after the site opened, I was walking up the hill to the ruins and I stopped
for a moment to rest. I asked the Oracle, “who am I really?” Just then, a cat appeared
and jumped up into my arms. It started to purr, contentedly. I took in the scene,
thought about the cat, and realized that this was my answer. I knew then that I must
take care of cats and show the world love. Catwoman was born. Years later, the
Prodigal Poets needed a Catwoman and I took on that persona in the group. I use it to
help others. I meow and prance on stage and it is so much fun being a cat for the
poetry crowd to love. You can find some of my Catwoman performances as well as
other creative endeavors on my Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Sunday: We would go to the Cowboy Church for morning service then walk around the
shopping center nearby. We would eat brunch somewhere and then rest until the
evening. At night, I would take them to 3rd and Lindsley for a Lightning 100 live
concert and eat dinner there while enjoying the music.
Monday: I would take my friend to the Frist Art Museum and after viewing the
wonderful art, we would eat lunch in the museum cafe and have fruit tea. Then we
would go to Eastside Bowl for Industrial Night and eat Shepherd’s Pie in their
restaurant.
Tuesday: We would have an easy day looking for bargains at Thriftsmart. Tuesday is 2
for $1 color tag sale day! Then we would catch a movie at Opry Mills. Tuesday is
discount movie day!
Wednesday: I would take my friend to the Parthenon today to see Athena and then we
would eat lunch at Taziki’s Greek food restaurant. At night we would walk over to
Springwater for their Writer’s on the Water poetry and songwriter night.
Thursday: We would spend the day at the Opry. We would eat lunch at the Opry Back
Stage restaurant, take a back stage tour of the Opry and then see the Opry that night
on Opry locals night, featuring local Nashville artists.
Friday: I would take my friend downtown on Friday. First, we would do a back stage
tour of Ryman Auditorium and then eat at one of the many delicious restaurants across
the street at the Assembly Food Hall. Then we would listen to music until the wee
hours in the honky-tonks on 2nd and Broadway.
Saturday: In the morning, we would drive out and have breakfast at the Loveless Cafe
and explore a few miles of the Natchez Trace. Then we would come back downtown

and spend the afternoon at the Country Music Hall of Fame before closing down the
honky-tonks one final night on Broadway.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I am a member of the Prodigal Poets and I would first like to shout out to its founder,
Gina Carrillo. She has given me so much encouragement through this project and
continues to find opportunities for all of us poets to share our work and to grow. The
broader Nashville poetry community has always been very supportive. We started out
years ago at Windows on the Cumberland and Charlie Fenton is a local artist still
around from those days. I have inspiring friends such as Arthur Barnes and Henry L.
Jones. When we see each other, we reminisce about times past and share our future
projects. So many of my mentors have passed but there are many artists that I still
connect with from time to time. Howard Wiggins is an incredible interior designer and
artist that I enjoy visiting with and Von Derry, artist in paint and in living, is another
person I enjoy when I get a chance to see her in her eclectic home/studio down in
Franklin. I was blessed to work the club scene and book some clubs around town
back in the day but many of those places are no longer there and many of the people I
knew then are no longer around. The land some of the clubs sat on has been sold and
developed. Other venues have failed for other reasons. Our community is no stranger
to loss. I will remember those faces and places and be thankful that I knew and
experienced them back then, when Nashville was a little less corporate and a little
more affordable for artists to live and thrive. That being said, I thank everyone I have
worked with and for all of the memories. Keith Coes, John Bruton, Donnie Winters,
C4 and David Koci are some that I especially want to thank. I have also
been married to Bradley Kirkpatrick for more than 20 years and we have worked
together as a team on his piano music for much of that time. It has been very fun and
rewarding. We have traveled the world together and tried to spend time helping people
through his music just as I try to help people through my poetry.

Instagram: https://Instagram.com/Franchesapic

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/QueenFranchesa

Youtube: https://Youtube.com/FranchesaVideos