THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602200059
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DENDRON LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
IN THE JUNGLE, zebras and giraffes drink from a peaceful pond surrounded by palm trees. Nearby, two hungry tigers lurk in the lush undergrowth.
But this jungle is on an old chest of drawers, proudly displayed in Diana Logan's home in Dendron, in Surry County.
Like many others, Logan has Dendron artist Sharon Faison to thank for the unique creation, made for a bathroom decorated in exotic animals.
``It never made it to the bathroom though,'' Faison says with a laugh. ``She put it in the front foyer where everyone could see it.''
In the last four years, Faison, 39, has been turning second-hand furniture into works of art for upscale homes.
``I can't produce enough of it,'' Faison said in a recent interview. ``If I was capable of it, I could do 100 pieces a week - and sell all of it.''
She works from a one-room studio that looks out on her family's 500-acre Dripping Springs Farm, where she grew up. Faison paints during the day while her two daughters, Caroline, 5, and Bonnie Jeanne, 7, attend school. Her husband, Doug, is a welder for Smithfield Foods Inc.
She produces about three pieces a week that sell for from $500 to $1,300 each.
Every piece is unique in design.
An old china cabinet, bought second-hand for $50, has been given new life with a colorful base of paint and delicate flowers that cascade down the cabinet and swirl around its drawers.
Another piece depicts country life, with a colorful farm scene and rolling hills.
Faison studied art design for three years, off and on, at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond during the 1970s and '80s. Around 1976, she painted a peasant woman hauling a pig to market through a village. It was to be the painting that would inspire her to do more.
``I took that painting to a barbecue house and sold it for $70. It was my first sale ever. I was so excited! I took the money and bought more art supplies. That did it for me.''
Then Faison began painting estate scenes of old farm houses in the area - something she knew would sell.
``I must have done 100 of them. They sold for $150 to $500 each.''
These days, she paints anything anyone wants - beach and hunt scenes, angels, wildlife and flowers.
Faison credits her natural talent to her mother, Ruby, who also likes to paint beach scenes.
In fact, Ruby Faison is her daughter's best critic, and close by, too - she also lives on the family farm.
``She'll tell me if something isn't right - if a horse's leg is wrong or a building is too big compared to another building in a scene.
``I let her come and pick at the pieces. Then I tell her to go home and not come back,'' Faison said with a laugh.
Today, the hand-painted furniture is her best seller. She still does some painting on canvas, but furniture is her principal medium now.
Inspiration to paint furniture came while she was peddling paintings to a merchant in Williamsburg.
``The merchant told me that paintings weren't selling that well in Williamsburg. He said people wanted functional pieces in their homes.''
About the same time, Faison saw some painted furniture in a magazine and decided to pick up on what seemed to be a growing trend in art.
Her hunch was right.
So right that many clients now ask Faison to choose the furniture she believes will fit the design they want.
So every Saturday, Faison shops.
``I tell clients to let me find the furniture because I can get a better price on it, and I know what to look for. I don't want a piece that has cracks or drawers that don't come together.''
The result is a studio crammed with furniture waiting for Faison's touch.
And inside her home there's more - more furniture, more paint brushes and paint and lots of ideas from books, postcards and wrapping paper with unique designs that will someday be painted into art for someone's home.
While some finished pieces go directly to homes, others sell in shops along the Outer Banks and on the Peninsula and in Richmond, as well as in Surry.
Dorothy Grandy, owner of Grandy's Rose Tree Gift Shop in Grandy, N.C., became aware of Faison's work several years ago when Faison stopped by Grandy's daughter-in-law's farm market, peddling baskets that had been painted with vegetables.
``Once I saw her work, I just fell in love with it,'' says Grandy, 60.
Today, Grandy sells a wide variety of Faison's painted furniture through her shop.
``People who come into my shop and see her work have to catch their breath - they think it's so beautiful. Some buy it instantly. Others have to think about it, and then they come back and buy it.''
Grandy also owns several pieces of Faison's art.
She commissioned Faison several years ago to paint the farm where she grew up. But it isn't a painting Grandy would sell.
``I wouldn't take anything for it! It means that much to me.''
Grandy also has a bed handpainted with a girl looking out to the ocean.
``She's so capable of painting a variety of subjects,'' Grandy says. ``It's only once in a while that you run across someone with these talents, and you say, `Wow!' ''
In 1994, Faison entered the Federal Duck Stamp Contest with two paintings of Canada geese. Her work competed with 650 entries.
Although she didn't win, she was judged to be in the top 100 entries, and her work went on to exhibit at a wildlife museum in San Bernardino, Calif.
``If you ever win that competition, you're the best forever,'' she says. ``But it's next to impossible to win.''
But Faison says she will try again.
``I want people to know my work and my name. It just takes a long time to do one thing before you get recognized for it.'' MEMO: [For a related story, also see page 6 of The Citizen for this date.]
ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
ARTISTIC TOUCH
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Many of the paintings on furniture that Sharon Faison does feature
natural, outdoor themes.
Sharon Faison produces about three painted furniture pieces a week.
Staff photo, including the cover, by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Dendron artist Sharon Faison works on a piece of furniture in her
studio, which looks out on her family's 500-acre Dripping Springs
Farm, where she grew up.
by CNB