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Frank
James doesn’t consider his collection of intricate,
completely handmade and hand-carved miniature buildings
the sum total of his art. For that, you’d have to
factor into the equation James’ focus and determination,
his creativity in figuring out how to use everyday
materials in his works and even in his philosophy of
life. To James, 48, a self-taught woodcarver and
artist, there’s simply no way to divorce such
intangibles from the wood, stone and found objects used
in his work.
Examples of James’ more tangible creations-
detailed scale models of a church, a home and an ancient
tabernacle—can be seen on exhibit through November 23 at
the West Las Vegas Arts Center, 947 W. Lake Mead Blvd.
James says he started carving as a child,
while growing up in his native West Indies. One of his
earliest works, carved when he was 12, was a chess set
with Egyptian figures that now rests in a room of his
North Las Vegas home. “He asked me to build this chess
set he saw in a book”, James says. “He said, “Can you
hand-carve those?” I was always hand-carving something,
so I started hand-carving it for him, and he taught me
how to play chess. HE said the day I beat him I could
have it back. He thought I’d never beat him.”
“Five years later, I checkmated him on day
and he said, “It’s yours,’ ”James says, laughing.
James came to the
United States 18 years ago to live with his brother in
New York City. He worked as a carpenter, woodworker and
builder for several years, and moved west12 years ago.
James says he learned – and he adds,
continues to learn — his craft by watching, planning and
then just trying. “I have a fourth grade education,” he
says. Forty-something years ago there wasn’t much
education in the village where I grew up.”
But, James continues, “As I grew up, I saw
everything. I saw a guy come to fix the refrigerator and
I asked him a bunch of questions. I went out ad got an
old refrigerator and fixed it. I learned a lot of
trades because I’m inquisitive. I fixed TVs and radios,
whatever (was) going on.”
That curiosity and determination serves
James well as an artist, because his works are made
largely from common
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materials used in
uncommon ways. Champagne bottles corks, drinking straws
and plastic toothbrush cases are worked in his pieces in
a way that belies no trace of their former use.
Take James’ “Bed of Roses,” a hand-carved
bed entering via a three step stairway ad having a
headboard that incorporates a TV, bar and an eight-track
player. Many of the fixtures on the bed were something
else first – a light, for example, that used to be a
glass doorknob.
James estimates the
bed, which took him 22 months and 5,300 hours of work.
“It’s all hand-carved, and I don’t have a lot of tools.
My tools are a power saw, hacksaw blade and my knife,”
he says. Even the spindles were fashioned on a lathe
James created out of two drills.
The scale model church building, which James
calls “The Universal Temple of Truth,” was built over a
period of about four years. James says he made
everything by hand, from the stained glass windows
formed out of melted plastic to the welding rods and
jewelry rings that make up a wrought iron fence.
Even the bricks on the walkway surrounding
the church were made individually, out of wood filler
mixed with red paint ad positioned one-by-one, he says.
Similarly, the shingles on the roof each were cut from a
block of slate then individually glued in place.
James’ ultimate use of found materials may
be the fish on the banquet table in the church’s
basement. The fish used to live in James’ own aquarium.
To prevent it as an artistic entrée, James gutted it,
packed it with salt, soaked it in vinegar, sewed it back
up, varnished it and then served it up.
“That was last summer, “he adds laughing.
“I’m surprised the fish hasn’t rotted yet.”
The church,, like James’ other works, wasn’t
built from written plans. Nor does he plan out what
materials he’ll need.
Another work which James calls “The House of
Democracy,” is a representation of a three story home.
Begun in 1985, the work took him 22 months to complete.
In the back yard of the house is a swimming pool, made
out of a trash container that can be filled with water
and a spa, thanks to dry ice and an
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aquarium
air filter, bubbles and steams. James says every piece
of furniture inside the house was made from scratch.
“That’s where the
time goes,” he says. “It takes time because (the
components are) so small. And you go out and put
something together and you start all over again.”
A third work is a
model of the tabernacle Moses erected in the Sinai
Desert more than 3,700 years ago. Burning torches – fed
by a propane tank secured under the table—surround a
tent atop a desert landscape made from sand mixed with
glue and sprayed in numerous layers onto a piece of
plywood . This work even includes a painted nighttime
sky designed, James says, with the help of a computer
projection of stars’ positions almost four millennia
ago.
James hasn’t sold a
piece, but would be happy to entertain offers.
Meanwhile, he’s trying to decide on his next project.
“I like Treasure
Island and the Mirage,” he says. “Now, I know they have
models of those, most likely, but they have architects
models. I can build the same thing with the volcano
exploding and the ship sinking. Land, lawns and
waterfalls, I can do all of it, so it becomes realistic
rather than a plastic model.”
James likes it that people appreciate his
art. What he’d like is for people --- especially kids –
to realize what his art represents. “Everyone says, ‘I
could not do that. I don’t have the patience.’” James
says. “I say, ‘You haven’t tried. You haven’t made a
real effort.”
Achieving anything requires the ability to
set goals, the determination to meet those goals, the
determination to meet those goals, and the creativity to
deal with obstacles that crop up along the way, James
says.
“You have to stick in there. There’s always
a way,” he says. In fact I don’t believe there are
problems. I believe a situation arises and if you think
will enough, with enough patience, you will find a way.
“What I want to tell people us: They can. They just have
to get a positive attitude and always look at the glass
as if its half-full. I’ve never seen an empty glass
yet.” |
