Talking to trees?

Faires isn't crazy - just fun-loving and talented

Published Sunday, April 27, 2008

By Denny Deady

Archie Faires listens to wood.

Think maybe he might need to sit down with a therapist? In his case, he would be talking to himself.

Faires and his wife Doris retired to Decatur after 26 years in Galveston where he was the in-house therapist for American National Insurance Co. Rather than listening to people's problems all day, he now spends his time in a spacious metal workshop next door at his son Dan Faires' home, creating works of art from found wood. He and Doris are also active members of First Presbyterian Church in Bridgeport and they enjoy their twin grandsons, Jacob and Vincent Faires, both college students.

Tall and slender with a shock of snow white hair and an even thicker southern drawl, Archie, 75, comes across as the genteel southern gentleman. Genteel that is, until he starts popping jokes that leave you in stitches. A native of Wallace, N.C., his drawl is still pronounced despite so many years in Texas. His personality would seem perfect for his former career, as laughter is often the best medicine. But Archie knows better than anyone that laughter isn't a cure-all. It hasn't mended the hole in his heart caused by the untimely death of his granddaughter, Rebecca Faires.

But Archie and Doris make the best of every day. He has his woodwork and although she has put away her stained glass tools, she has beautiful stained glass creations throughout their home to bring joy.

"We had 59 windows in our home in Galveston and every one had a piece of Doris' stained glass hanging in it," said Archie. Despite his amazing talent, he tries to divert the attention to Doris' creations.

Archie's love of wood began at an early age, encouraged by his dad.

"My dad had four sons and he told us that each of us had to take two years of shop in high school," said Archie. "I took four."

His brother in Charlotte, N.C., makes wooden bowls. Archie's creations are more abstract.

His interest in wood sculpture developed about 20 years ago in Galveston. He and Doris visited a museum in Houston where they admired a wood sculpture valued at $2,000.

"I can do that," Archie told Doris. He could and he did.

He enjoyed combing the Galveston beaches for driftwood. He never starts a sculpture with a preconceived plan. He places the wood on a shelf and looks at it until it speaks to him.

"I let a piece of wood tell me what it wants to be," he says.

When walking in the 17 acres of woods surrounding Dan's home, he tends to keep his eye on the ground, looking for a future work of art. He found some treasures in Lake Bridgeport during the 2000 drought. One piece of mesquite became a howling coyote. Another piece in his home came from a swamp in Nebraska that had been drained. A patient gave him the piece of wood. His friend Howard Meyers of Bridgeport gave him a piece of basswood. He cut a duck from the wood and then created an abstract piece from the leftovers.

"I'll pull a piece of wood out of the ground or use an ax and cut it," Archie explains. "I blast it with water to get the mud off and then put it on a shelf."

Once he has decided what the wood will become, he pulls at all the pieces, removing those that break off easily.

"Then I grind it with a grinder to get all the dead stuff off and get to the solid wood," he adds.

He then sands it by machine, using 60-grit to 3,000 grit.

"I'll use up to 12,000 grit, which is a hand rub if it's a real unique piece," says Archie.

He uses a mixture of equal parts boiled linseed oil, mineral spirits and oil based varnish for the finish, followed by a gloss polyurethane. Renaissance Wax, a micro-crystalline wax polish developed in the 1800s, is applied. The outstanding trait of the wax is that it won't leave a fingerprint, which is perfect for Archie, who is always touching the pieces and encouraging others to do so.

Archie has passed his love of woodworking to his son Dan, who hand milled all the wood for his multi-story home. His spiral staircase is made from trees on the property, as are the doors and trim. Doris and Archie also have three daughters, Leigh Ann Faires, who lives in Hendersonville, N.C., Katherine Egenberger of Danbury, Conn., and Marsha Faires, a teacher in Pakistan.

Archie and Doris will celebrate 54 years of marriage in June. They spend much of the year at their cabin in North Carolina, near daughter Leigh Ann in the only area where Archie has marketed his sculptures.

Archie earned a degree in animal husbandry from North Carolina State University, followed by master's degrees in theology and family therapy. His extensive knowledge in so many fields is exceeded only by his vast collection of jokes.

Perhaps it is his uninhibited nature that permits him to be so creative. His observation of his work is profound in its simplicity:

"Just use your imagination and you can make most anything."