philippe faraut.

"La fille du Marin" (The Fisherman's Daughter...huge!)

Philippe Faraut is not an artist that I found. He’s an artist that found me. Literally. During the winter before last he came into the restaurant where I work and asked my boss to talk to me about sitting for him. I was a little apprehensive at first. I had no idea who this guy was so I was a little nervous about going to his house for whatever reason. But my boss had worked with him and assured me that he was really cool so I agreed.

Faraut was formally trained in the arts of woodcarving and furniture construction in his homeland of France, but eventually settled on recreating the human head in clay (or sometimes bronze stone). I had been recruited for a sculpture for Faraut’s second sculpting instruction book: Mastering Portraiture: Advanced Analyses of the Face Sculpted in Clay. This book is dedicated to demonstrating the effects that age and race have on facial features, and how to capture them in clay (Faraut is also an expert in forensic reconstruction). He works as part of a team with his wife Charisse who helps with everything from book writing & finances to artistic decisions.

For the next few weeks I spent a couple hours at a time at the Faraut household in the attic studio while Philippe worked away (it was far too cold to work in the larger studio in a separate building on the property). I would sit while he told me stories about his work, which includes portrait sculpting from several different materials. We’d chat about town happenings and everyday kinds of things, and every once in a while Charisse would come in and admire/study/critique the sculpture. All the while Norah Jones sang in the background. I was pretty much in love with the place. After the session, he would set up the lights and snap some pictures so that he could work on the piece while I wasn’t there and then we’d decide when I should come back.

"Dormancy"

Just looking at Philippe’s work I was impressed with the detail and skill that can be seen in his pieces. He is an amazingly talented individual who not only creates clay sculptures and writes books, but also teaches sculpting across the country as well as out of his family's home and even runs forensic workshops for federal agents to learn about reconstuction.

Being a part of the process made everything seem that much more incredible. Seeing the work being made, being welcomed into the home, getting to know the artist and his family was an amazing experience.

Faraut’s work space will be open to the public on October 3rd & 4th as part of the Naples Open Studio Trail this year. So if anyone finds themselves in the area it’s well worth the trip! There will be a ton of other great artists throughout Naples & Honeoye, NY opening up their studios and people are free to walk through, see demos, chat with the artists, etc. Pretty sweet.

This one's me! "Tangled Roots"

drooping glory.

Drooping Glory

I was first attracted to Sadie Gerbic's work when I saw a piece of hers at Artizann's in Naples, NY. Drooping Glory was a piece that I would have taken home and hung on my wall if I'd had the money at the time. I didn't. But I wrote the name down and took that with me so that I could look at more of her work later.

Coming Up On 40

Bugman

I'm captivated by Gerbic's use of color. Most pieces show subtle hints of more vibrant hues. For me, the limited use of color makes the ones that are actually there stand out even more. What I loved about Drooping Glory was the contrast. The rich red tone that you would expect to see in the flowers was instead used in the flowerpot and table. The flowers themselves are virtually colorless. The black of the shadows stands out against the sketchy quality of the stems and buds.

Sadie Gerbic is a printmaker and textile & garden designer. She lives in Chicago now, but is originally from the Finger Lakes Region which is probably why I found her work in a local artisan shop. What I like most about her work is it creates an instant reaction for me, even though I'm not entirely sure what that reaction is at first. For me, the fact that I wanted to have that piece for myself almost instantly says a lot.

On top of everything else, she seems a little weird in a very cool way and I like that. I think I'd like to meet her.

the craft closet.

The craft closet probably started out as a single drawer or maybe a box of some sort...somewhere where all of the "crafty" materials in the house could be kept all together. When I was younger I would investigate the contents of the craft drawer/box when I was bored to see if I could turn them into anything fantastic.

Over the years, the craft drawer/box has morphed into a monster; taking over (and spilling out of an entire closet space in the laundry room of my house. It has also spread into a couple of dressers, a number of shelves and even into a bathtub.

What started out as a small area devoted to glue sticks & glitter, cotton balls & crayons has become an ever evolving collection of everything from photographic images to fabrics, books, paints, beads, ribbon, pretty papers, plain papers, tie-dye kits, broken jewelry and everything in between. Pretty much anything that looks like it ever was or ever could be something of interest makes its way to one of these spaces. Or it sits on my bedroom floor with the intention of one day making it to one of these spaces.

To this day, I always start a project with a general sift through the contents of the closet/dresser/bath tub/bedroom floor to see if there is anything that can be used to support whatever it is I'm working on. There usually is- and then I try to figure out the rest from there. I use what I have already and find what I don't, and in that way the "craft closet" is constantly being altered and added to.

I like art.

It’s difficult to say exactly what it is that I love about art, but I’ve been attracted to art in one way or another for as long as I can remember. It started out in the form of arts & crafts projects when I was younger and grew as I did. I enjoyed the art classes that I took in school and visiting museum and art shows. Eventually I started to make art for myself as well, without needing to be told to do so.

Over time, art has also served as an outlet. It was something that I could do to counter the stress of school or work or whatever else was creating tension at the moment. Usually I was more active and productive during the night time when everyone else in the house was sleeping. My projects became a way to pass the time whether it was working on a painting for a class at school, or covering my dresser top to bottom, in sequins. I could work for hours on end without disrupting anybody else and without being disturbed as well.

Academically, art has always been an example of freedom. There were a limited number of art courses that I was required to take in high school. The only way that I could take art classes in later years of high school was if I had met my other course requirements. Signing up for art classes was like a special treat and a well-deserved break from the test-taking and essay-writing that was involved in almost every other class.

I’ve always been fascinated by jewelry and decoration. Eventually I discovered that I could create my own things to define my personal space- a painting for my room, a bracelet for my wrist. I’m interested in the ways in which art can define us; what we choose to wear on our bodies, what we decide to display in our homes, and what we create for ourselves or for other people.

In the upcoming year, I would like to become more focused in my work because I think that is something that I’ve never been. I’ve always enjoyed the act and process of making things, but have always been lacking in consistency. I have a tendency to pick things up and put them back down on a whim, and bounce from one thing to another rather than having any sort of clear cut goal in mind. Having only recently declared my major, I'm new to having art be the core focus of my studies, but I'm excited for the challenges and opportunities that I'm sure it will bring.

As a whole, I think I view art as a form of expression and individuality. It is not something that can be explained in terms of wrong or right like math or language or science so it becomes particular to not only the person creating it, but also to the people that are viewing it. The possibilities are endless because they change with each person that encounters a certain piece of work. Art is something that doesn’t necessarily have boundaries because it doesn’t depend on words to define it, but rather individual experiences and viewpoints.

I’m not 100% sure what I’d like to do for a career, but I would hope that art would in some way be a part of it because it is what I enjoy. I like looking at art, making it and learning about it. My mother has worked as a secretary since before I was born and my father worked in a factory for 35 years before retiring. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with either of these jobs, but after watching them for as long as I have I don’t think that sort of profession is right for me. I don’t want to end up doing something that is basically the same thing day after day. I’m attracted to the arts because they are ever-changing. If you get bored with one thing, you can just make something else.