THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 3, 1994 TAG: 9407010231
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 36 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Nancy McWilliams
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
``Buildings have character,'' artist Fred Vallade of Duck stated. ``If they could talk, they would have zillions of stories to tell.''
Since buildings can't speak, Vallade does a wonderful job telling their stories in his etchings and aquatints.
Vallade and his wife relocated here from Connecticut last August so he could be postmaster at Manns Harbor on the Dare County mainland.
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Vallade struck out for New York at age 19. Though he'd been interested in art all his life, it was there that his interest was inflamed. He took courses at the Art Students League and began entering his work in exhibitions. For 10 years, he spent every weekend participating in outdoor art shows. Then, he began limiting himself to three or four shows a year.
Throughout this time, he made his living at a steel company, then with the U.S. postal service.
Vallade started out painting in oils and acrylics. He decided to try printmaking, figuring that would give him more pieces to exhibit in outdoor shows - and give him more time to paint. When he embarked on etchings and aquatints, he adapted readily. For the past 15 years he has concentrated almost exclusively in those media.
This ``discovery of a new meaning of art through graphics is a newfound fulfillment'' for Vallade. It gives him a chance to communicate his personal convictions in methods he loves.
Printmaking has been truly rewarding for him, he said. ``It has provided a wealth of new material and techniques that only modern technology made possible,'' Vallade said.
His black and white renditions of streets and textured buildings capture the essence of city life, with a dreamy, soft feel about them.
Vallade doesn't need to produce lighthouses and shell portraits. He has many ideas left from his city dwelling days.
``I used to go to the slums in New York and do great buildings,'' he said. His hangout was Greenwich Village, revealed in his portrayals of dark alleys and backsides of buildings. One especially captivating scene depicts an outdoor market. Country general stores on out-of-the-way roads show Vallade does not entirely restrict himself to cityscapes.
It is the shadows and gradations of light that appeal to Vallade while working in black and white. ``I experiment with color, then I go back to black and white,'' he said.
The actual process of aquatint intrigues Vallade, and over the years he has learned what the chemicals will do in response to different processes. He coats a zinc plate with wax and scratches images into that surface. ``Everything has to be done in reverse,'' he said, ``but I have no problem with that.''
Then, by dipping the plate in acid up to 30 times, Vallade achieves the desired effects. Instead of using actual aquatint, a powdered rosin, he uses spray paints. The plate is scrubbed clean, and the image is pressed onto rag paper on a printing press.
He finds creating a relaxing pastime, and hopes now that he has left behind the hustle and bustle of the big city, he'll find lots more time for work in his studio.
``Anybody can do art,'' he said. ``If you're determined and have a love of it, it can be brought out.''
He recalled the early days of his art training, when he painted a portrait of a woman. He hated the portrait, but took it along to a show. Although he had it stacked behind some other paintings, a woman insisted on buying it. Because he disliked the painting so much, he hadn't signed it. The woman asked him to come to her home and add his name to his painting. When he arrived to find his work hanging above a baby grand piano in the woman's beautiful home, Vallade saw his work in a new light.
``I loved it,'' he said. ``That turned me around,'' giving him the impetus to continue, and to loosen up with his work.
``My art is my life,'' he said. At 49, his goal is to someday own a combination art gallery and florist shop.
``Being an artist, influenced by the pulse beat of our time, you have to be ever searching and experimenting.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by Drew C. Wilson
Artist Fred Vallade's black and white renditions of streets and
textured buildings capture the essence of city life, with a dreamy,
soft feel.
by CNB