Joe Fafard

VIDEO PORTRAITS

Joe Fafard

Video clips © CCCA & Linda Corbett_Eyeris Inc. 2007
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Foundry After the success of his famous public commission of life-sized cows titled, “The Pasture” for the Toronto Dominion Centre, Toronto in 1984, Joe Fafard opened his own bronze foundry, “Julienne Atelier” in Pense, Saskatchewan the following year. In this video clip, Joe gives us a tour of the foundry, showing the entire bronze casting process - from clay model to the one-of-a-kind patina process he uses to hand finish each of his bronze sculptures. foundry.flv / running time: 12:10 / English - Anglais start
Realism When Joe left the University of Manitoba to attend Pennsylvania State University in 1966, he had been working in a figurative style using plaster. His weekend visits to the New York galleries and museums exposed him to the vocabulary of modernism. Instructor’s critiques accused him of being living in the 19th Century, not the modern world. For awhile he made small machine sculptures with drole, humourous movements, but by the time he returned to Regina in 1968 he was ready to return to his roots, turning away from such “cerebral” work that “never touched him emotionally”. realism.flv / running time: 4:50 / French - Français start
Portraits The portrait of Michael Haynee, a 107 year old resident of Pense, Saskatchewan marked a turning point in Joe’s approach to his portraits. When his father died soon after, Joe wanted to “recreate that life” through his work. The result was a thoughtful, solidly-based portrait quite different from the “jocular” pieces that had preceded it. portraits.flv / running time: 3:43 / English - Anglais start
Histoire Joe talks about his family history and early childhood years growing up in Saskatchewan. Related to the famous French Canadian sculptor Louis Jobin (1845-1928), he was not the only artist in the family. histoire: / running time: 4:58 / French - Français start