Profile with Danielle Fontaine
Danielle Fontaine (Québec & St John’s 1981) – who a decade ago described herself as a mother of four who wrote creative nonfiction and was involved in the arts community – is now a visual artist, a grandmother of five who paints nonfiction stories in encaustic. She still plans on writing in words someday, and she still lives in South Carolina. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from McGill University, an MA in PPE from Oxford University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Queens University in North Carolina. She is co-founder (with her husband Bill McLendon, Mississippi & Oriel 1981) of the Brandon Fellowship at the Greenville Center for Creative Arts in Greenville, South Carolina. Danielle’s pictorial memoir Still Time on Pye Pond was published by Clemson University Press in 2021.
Rhodes Project: Can you tell me about a memorable moment from your time at Oxford?
Danielle Fontaine: 1981 was the last year that the Rhodes scholars sailed to Oxford, and I met my husband on the ship on my way over to England, so that made every moment memorable! An anecdotal memory from when we first arrived is: the whole group set a meeting time to get together for a late lunch after we were dropped off at our different colleges to share initial impressions. We all met at the King’s Arms pub, and I wasn’t a beer drinker, so I ordered quiche and milk - and was very dismayed that the quiche was cold and the milk was warm! But then the beer was warm too, so everybody was equally dismayed.
Speaking of food, here is another anecdote, newly relevant, from my first year at Oxford. On a Saturday I had stopped by the market to buy bread and cheese to share for brunch with classmates at Oriel. I walked into their room and opened my packages, which sent them scurrying out into the quad. I had bought a particularly pungent cheese. I didn’t know. I ran after my friends with apologies, explaining that I was born anosmic, then further explaining what anosmia is. Fast forward forty years, and in the age of COVID I rarely need to describe anosmia, as so many people have now experienced it, albeit temporarily. And no, for me it is not quite as bad as you might imagine. I never did have a sense of smell or taste, so I am not fully aware of what I am missing. My husband Bill buys the cheese now. He still remembers that Saturday at Oriel, one of our first dates.
Rhodes Project: How has the Rhodes Scholarship changed in meaning for you since you left Oxford?
Danielle Fontaine: Being French-Canadian, where the Scholarship wasn’t well known, I had no idea of the deeper meaning of “fighting the world’s fight”. Then I learned the prestige that was associated with the Scholarship and for a while afterward, I felt that if I had known all that I might not have applied because I didn’t see myself as that kind of person. I never had grand plans for a career while most other Scholars seemed to have very good ideas or plans as to what they wanted to do and what was important to them. For me, it was very important that I be ready for a career in case my life took that turn, but it was more of a plan B. My life dream always was to be a stay-at-home mom. Now I understand that fighting the world’s fight doesn’t have to mean only great battles. There are lots of important skirmishes that need to be won too, and I’m trying to do my part there. Indeed, this stay-at-home mom never stayed home much, busy as she was volunteering for a variety of causes.
Rhodes Project: Do you feel pressure to explain your choices in the company of other Rhodes women?
Danielle Fontaine: Not at all, and least of all from the ones who know me personally. Any pressure, I think, wouldn’t come from other Scholars, but from women who say, “I could never stay home with the children; I have to keep my mind active.” This has never been a problem for me, there are two million things I am doing to keep my mind active – there are so many ways to engage your mind and the world around you.
But I don’t think that if anybody were to ask that question, it would bother me. I certainly don’t think being a stay-at-home mom was a waste of time. I was involved in many other areas, and though I wasn’t climbing up a career ladder, I think I made worthwhile use of my time. I don’t feel pressure or regret – I’m happy with the way things are.
Rhodes Project: If you could change or add one thing to the public dialogue on stay-at-home mothers and working mothers, what would it be?
Danielle Fontaine: The main thing I would want people to realize is that one choice is not better than the other. They are both valid. Sometimes women get very defensive trying to explain why they stayed home or why they picked the career path, and they are both entirely good choices. You should do what is good for you, and that will end up being good for the children. There are great ways to raise children with help from nannies or preschools or extended family that have been proven to work very well, so I don’t think that a stay-at-home mom is essential in the child’s life. But if it’s a choice that the mother wants to make because that’s what works well for her and her family, that’s a valid choice.
There is also the issue that when a woman decides to work outside the home, she often ends up taking on more of the responsibilities at home as well, and it’s something that is taking a long time for society to adjust to. It’s a difficult choice because everything that traditionally women used to do at home still needs to be done, and not everybody has the means to pay for help to pick up the slack. So that needs to be worked on with partners and society in general. But I think we’re making progress. I know of a few families where the man stays home, and I’m looking forward to more progress where men feel that that is a valid choice for them also, and that a broom can be as manly as a hockey stick or a golf club, even if not quite as much fun. Welcome to our world!
Rhodes Project: Broadly speaking, what inspires you in life?
Danielle Fontaine: Broadly speaking? Everything really. It’s an exciting world out there. But first and foremost, my family and friends, and the people around me, whomever they happen to be in any given situation. And the civic activities that I do. While the kids were in school, I helped with the quality of education at whatever level they were. My involvement there was mostly in the arts, art exhibitions or competitions, or creating programs with community theatres and schools so that students would be engaged in live theatre earlier. I notice that a lot of community theaters have aging audiences, so we endeavored to get more young people involved. At the time my children left for college, I was involved with the Friends of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation in the US for many years. Then I decided to spoil myself a little bit and went back to do my MFA.
Rhodes Project: How was going back to education years after leaving Oxford a different or surprising experience?
Danielle Fontaine: It was wonderful to not put the pressure on yourself that you have when you’re at the age when you’re applying for scholarships and building your resume – doing it entirely for the fun of it was most pleasant.
Rhodes Project: How did your husband’s job in the military affect your experience of raising a family?
Danielle Fontaine: I think having the chance to experience different cultures by living in different countries, or even in different states, broadened our perspectives in so many ways. It’s logistically difficult with four young children, but it’s wonderful for the children and it was wonderful for us too. It has been tiring, all the moving takes up a lot of energy, but I think it’s well worth it.
Rhodes Project: If you could go back to your life right after college, what would you do differently?
Danielle Fontaine: I might go back farther than that to my father who always pressured us to be professionals, both the girls and the boys in my family. We always had to have a good solid profession to fall back on, and a lot of the reason for that was to ensure financial security. So I think I limited my choices early on as to what I could study. I do love architecture and the arts, but I think I might have studied a different subject that might not have made my dad so happy, like communications or writing. But since you ask about right after college, I would not do anything differently there. I was already married – Bill and I married after our first year in Oxford – and while he went through basic pilot training, I worked in construction management for a year. I did well and satisfied myself that I could succeed in a career had I chosen that path, so that question never nagged me later. Then we embarked on our nomadic military family life, and I loved that lifestyle.
Rhodes Project: If you were stranded on a desert island with one person, one musical record and one personal item, what would they be?
Danielle Fontaine: Assuming the question implied someone from outside my current world, the person would be either Antoine de Saint-Exupéry or John Ruskin, from whom I borrowed a quote to start my Rhodes application essay. I would love chatting with either of them. Instead of a record, I believe I would be happiest with my complete Spotify playlist of Québécois and French songs, which carry me back to the home I unknowingly left permanently when I embarked on the Rhodes adventure. And a personal item – I guess I’d bring a pen or a pencil, because I do mean to finish writing about the journey, and I might find the time to do so if I were stranded on a desert island!
2022 update: What a difference a decade makes. Our four children had just left home when we did this initial interview, and I had recently finished my MFA in Creative Writing. Little did I know that the book I would eventually “write” would be a pictorial memoir, a story of interracial marriage and rejection – a story too difficult for words, told mostly in encaustic paintings. Still Time on Pye Pond was published by Clemson University Press in 2021.
And little did I know that in a totally different forum, being silenced during a vigorous debate at a local Design Review Board meeting would spur me to cultivate and raise my voice, to good effect. I was soon invited to join the DRB in my beautiful hometown. It was a pleasure to finally put to wider use lessons learned decades earlier in architecture school, along with the breadth of experience earned by having lived in so many different places. Greenville, South Carolina, regularly finds itself on top-ten lists of places to visit nationally and internationally, and I am glad I played a tiny part in this success.
But I am most thankful to have been able to help others find their voices. Upon joining the new Greenville Center for Creative Arts as an inaugural artist, in 2015, to begin work on my pictorial memoir, I realized that the art center at its inception did not yet reflect the diversity of the community it truly hoped to serve. In discussing this with Dr Leo Twiggs, a pioneer of Black arts higher education in South Carolina, he commented: “Danielle, they will not come if they do not see themselves represented.” Based on this wisdom and the example of the Rhodes Scholarship from which we so largely benefited, Bill and I founded the Brandon Fellowship at GCCA, which every year provides studio space, stipends, and mentorship to three young artists of varied backgrounds. I am proud to say that eight years later, the Brandon Fellowship has succeeded beyond expectations in bringing diversity to GCCA in multiple facets: age, race, and gender. And each year, the community awaits with anticipation the unveiling of the three new Brandon Fellows.
You asked earlier how the Rhodes Scholarship has changed in meaning for me since I left Oxford. I realize now, at this stage in my life, that a big part of “fighting the world’s fight” means paying it forward. This is what I endeavor to do.
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