Warwick Valley Dispatch August 26, 2005

Internationally renowned artist, writer, sculptor and
observer of the human condition, Frederick Franck, will
appear at The Bookstore in downtown Warwick on Sat.,
Aug. 27 at 7:30 p.m. Mr. Franck’s appearance is in conjunction
with his two latest book releases, Ode to the
Human Face and The Icon Reborn.
Creator of Pacem in Terris, a trans-religious sanctuary
in Warwick, Mr. Franck’s art has been on display around
the world including one-man shows in New York, Paris,
London,Geneva and Amsterdam. Most recently there have
been exhibitions at the Poughkeepsie Museum of Art, Yale’s
University Gallery of the Institute for Sacred Music, New
York Open Center and the Cathedral of St. John the
Divine.
Frederick Franck, who is 97 years old, has also written
more than thirty-five books and is listed in both “Who’s
Who in America” and “Who’s Who in the World”. Michael
McDermott, owner of The Bookstore, states, “We are truly
fortunate to have a man of Frederick’s insight, vision and
talent living here in Warwick for almost fifty years. This
will be the our third book signing event with him and each
time is a memorable occasion.”
According to Frederick Franck, his newest book titled
Ode To The Human Face, came about unexpectedly. His
son, Lukas, was looking under his workbench and discovered
several cardboard boxes filled with small clay faces.
Franck had made most of them spontaneously, using just
his thumb and forefinger. They have a striking raw beauty,
yet convey a wide range of emotions. Photographer Luz
Piedad was also fascinated and took more than 100 blackand-
white photographs of them. Soon a book was on its
way.
Marvin Barrett, senior editor of Parabola, writes in the
foreword that these small sculptures "convey eloquently in
the simplest vocabulary, what people think and feel and
betray with eyes, mouth, cheeks, temples and chin." The
faces, Franck writes, are someone he met on a plane, in the
grocery store, or at a traffic light. But they are more than
portraits; they are icons. The artist explains, "I felt them to
be directly related to my lifelong intense preoccupation
with the meaning of being born human, in other words:
Who am I? Who are you?"