We have blogged on Fred Babb before see here below:
http://2soulsisters.blogspot.com/2011/12/fred-babb-art-unit.html
http://2soulsisters.blogspot.com/2010/02/words-on-your-wall.html
Visit Fred Babb's Webpage Here:
http://www.fredbabbart.com/
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About Fred Babb (from the website listed above)
On a Hot, Sticky day in
August, 1947, Fred Babb was born in Aitkin, a small town in rural
Minnesota. He eventually became one of eight siblings positioned
somewhere in the middle of the family constellation. In 1952 his family
piled into their sleek Hudson and moved to California. One year later,
Fred remembers picking up a drawing pencil for the first time, and,
instantly he heard a VOICE from above say "Put down that pencil and do
your chores." It was, of course, his dad - but he prefers to think of it
as his first almost religious experience.
When Fred was a young
boy, elementary school age, his mother would send him off to school with
lunch money and he would return home with art supplies. Paper was in
short supply in his large family, so he would use grocery bags as his
canvas. During the formative years, his major influences included MAD
Magazine and Soupy Sales, and later on the Kinks and Bob Dylan. He had a
few bad influences, too, but we won't go into that. In high
school, Fred met the teacher that changed his life as an artist. This
teacher, Larry "Mac" Macaray, recognized Fred's creative talent and his
obvious skill. He challenged Fred to make art outside the boundaries of
skill. He encouraged him to go places with his imagination and without
the restriction of creating what he thought he should create, something
he believed would be acceptable.
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Through this teacher's
guidance, Fred was given the gift of freedom to create outside the
standards of "acceptable" art and within the limitless boundaries of his
own imagination. This single experience began the foundation of all his
future creation process. For years afterward, Fred would experiment
with a variety of styles and techniques, all of them self-discovered.
Fred did not pursue art education, but rather education through his art.
During what would be college years, and young adult years, he took a
couple of art classes, but found his direction as an artist coming from
within himself, rather than through instruction, so he left the school
system and began to make a way of his own.
Fred learned early on
that although art was real fun, being broke was not, so in 1982, after
22 different occupations since 1962, we find him quickly burning out as a
painter / furniture refinisher in Boston, MA. Fed up with the job and
his boss, Fred convinced his lovely and supportive wife, Julia, that
there was GOLD--scratch that--ART out west in California to be mined -
so the family: Fred, Julia, Amy, and Christopher moved to Folsom, CA -
just outside of Sacramento where he began creating work to be shown in
galleries. The work was well received, yet not widely received.
After
9 years of House Husbanding while Julia worked - which by the way was
the eye-opening experience of his life, for it was here that he realized
how men have "got it made" going off to work, hanging with their
friends, and bringing home the Bacon - in 1984, Fred bought a Kiln and
began making small ceramic sculptures with faces in them. Fred was
selected to show one of his ceramic sculptures in a group competition at
the Crocker Art Museum, in Sacramento. Before the opening of the show,
while making a sculpture of 6 small heads, which he intended to call
"The 6 Fizzicists", an explosion occurred and one of the heads broke off
and was sent off into a spiraling orbit, ending at the bottom of the
kiln. The sculpture was renamed "The 5 Fizzicists," and he made the
stray face into a necklace for his wife, Julia. She wore it to the art
opening where some friends and even many strangers commented on it,
recognizing the artwork from the SINGLE sculpture Fred had in the show.
Someone suggested it should have earrings to match, and so Fred made his
first pair of Ear Heads, though they were yet to have that name. A
friend recommended he design more, which she offered to sell to local
art galleries and upper end stores. Fred agreed, creating several one of
a kind pieces. They sold quickly and Fred and Julia together developed a
line of ceramic jewelry, which they called Ear Heads, because that's
what they were: Earrings and Pins that were faces.
Among all of
his other wonderful features, Fred was also extremely innovative, and
this was evident in the process he designed to create his Ear Heads:
There are machines that can roll out a thin slab of clay for you;
however, those machines can be very costly, and the Babb family just
didn't have the cash at the time. Fred was searching for something that
would absorb moisture upon which he could roll out his clay to create
slabs. See, the clay needs water on it to remain malleable. If the clay
dries out, it is no longer workable, and if it dries too quickly, it
often loses its shape and/or cracks. If the clay remains wet there can
be a multitude of other problems. So Fred needed something that would
absorb the water, but not too quickly. He experimented with a number of
different things, but it wasn't until a remodel of the Babb home that he
discovered exactly what he needed: a sheet of drywall. With the drywall
as a surface and some paint stirring sticks glued flat to it as borders
and levels, he would use a rolling pin to roll his clay out perfectly
flat between the stir sticks to give the jewelry a uniform shape. At
first, he simply used an Xacto knife to cut the shapes out of the clay,
but when this proved too inefficient to keep up with the demand, he
fashioned his own Ear-Head-shaped "cookie cutters" out of a piece of
sheet metal and 2-ton epoxy. Simply put, Fred literally could do
anything he put his mind to, including invent his own personal one-man
Ear Head factory. This is the process he used for years until the demand
for the jewelry got so high that he had to hand the job over to his
close friend and fellow artist Tony Natsoulas to create the "blanks."
Within
a couple of years there were stores and galleries across the United
States selling Fred's work. Fred's initial products were limited to
images. One day he designed a pair of earrings which said "Do it" on one
and "Don't Do It" on the other. That began his venture into the world
of words. From that time forward Fred has used words as a means to
encourage people to think for and believe in themselves. As the
popularity of his jewelry line grew, stores requested other products,
and the line grew to include other products such as T-Shirts, Clocks,
Cards, Magnets and Mugs. These, too, were a success, and posters and
framed prints were added. They have, over the years, acquired a somewhat
irreverent bent, poking fun at human behavior and how it relates to
art. In 1988, a wholesale outlet and retail store were opened in
Cambria, California, and in 1991, the name of the business was changed
to "What Iz Art."
This went on until 1996, when both Fred and
Julia tired of the production and quit the business. Several of Fred's
designs continued in the marketplace through a process of licensing to
other manufacturers who produced t-shirts, tote bags, hats, cards, a
calendar and poster book. In the year 2000, Julia took the business back
into her own hands under the name of "Babb Studios," where it remained
until their son, Chris, made the decision to revitalize the business in
2012, renaming it yet again, to Fred Babb Art.
Fred experienced
art through the process of creating. He did not begin with ideas, he
allowed them to present themselves as he worked. He rested in his work
rather than laboring to bring something to fruition. As a result, he was
extremely prolific. Fred Babb died May, 2006. We miss him terribly, but
his words and works will live forever in the hearts of those who have
enjoyed them through the years. We thank you.
Fabulous Artist to study with super results! Enjoy, 1969
T
