Harry Farfan: Guest Artist at Gallery 121

Gallery 121 is excited to have Harry Farfan exhibiting his giant wooden birds as part of our Christmas show.  He was kind enough to take the time to participate in a short interview:

B.C.: How did you first become interested in your artform?

H.F.:  When you ask me when I got interested in my artform, I guess the only way to answer that is that I have quite a few artforms, or should we say materials, that I use to create my art.  I worked with most of the 2 dimensional arts, such as painting and drawing, for many decades.  I was fascinated by the ever present desire to make the drawings more three dimensional for my design and architectural work. Then I applied my architectural knowledge with my model making abilities and that spurred a whole different breed of art for me.  Architectural modelling is such an intensely interesting thing that combines technical knowledge, modelling know-how and purely artistic additions . Add a photo video into the mix and then things get really interesting.  As for my interests in wood: that started when I found a piece of driftwood on the beach near Sandbanks. I saw something in it, and used a chisel to hack out the shape of a deer’s head. Then I sanded it for days. I found myself dragging home all kinds of driftwood after that.  Realizing that it was very laborious and painful to use hammer and chisel, I started using a chainsaw, and was able to create enough art in a way that I find very rewarding . A few years ago I went through a stage that allowed me to make some huge chainsaw carvings, but problems that go along with a piece of sculpture that is impossible to move without help or machines started to become evident. This need for making a large artistic scenes,  realized more and more regularly by my sand sculptures, and more recently by my snow sculptures, has developed into regular municipal events and international competitions and exhibitions.

Thank you, Harry!

To read more of Harry's interview, visit the Gallery 121 website and click on the "Guest Artist" link.  Once at the site, you will find the work of all our gallery members, with information and images: 
http://gallery121artists.com/

To see more of Harry's work visit the Quinte Arts Council at:
http://www.quinteartscouncil.org/Qac/QAC/arts/farfan.htm