Local Artist spotlight

Erin Farnsworth grew up in Sandy, Utah where both her parents were artists. “They taught me a lot as I got older and as I became interested in art at an early age," she commented. By the time she was in sixth grade, she showed an interest and inclination toward art so her parents taught her how to do things like draw correct face and head proportions.

Farnsworth attended Brighton High School where her mother taught ceramics and sculpture. After graduating from high school, she attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting. After that, she moved to the Washington, D.C. area where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from The George Washington University.

“In the past, my work has been inspired by many different things. My current body of work consists of portraits of the rising generation, and so my inspiration for the paintings I am doing now is the exemplary young people around me,” said Farnsworth. “I like a lot of different art, but I definitely lean toward realism and I always have, whether it is a landscape, a still-life or a portrait or figure.

Farnsworth enjoys working with all kinds of mediums, especially drawing, watercolor and oil painting as well as three-dimensional work. While she doesn’t particularly like painting with acrylics, she will on occasion use them while doing a craft project with her children.

Working part-time hours most weeks on her art, while her youngest is still in kindergarten, Farnsworth will occasionally work more than full-time hours when she has a big deadline; however, she looks forward to devoting more time to her work and business next school year.

Once a piece is finished, Farnsworth has it framed and usually ships off to 'do the rounds' in a few exhibition shows. Doing life-size portrait paintings often takes several months; this means that the painting needs to get some publicity mileage before it joins her home gallery or selling it to a collector.

During art week at Mountain Green Middle School, in April, Linnea Wheeler volunteered to come up with a fun art-related project for the students to participate in. Farnsworth said she would be happy to help with it. She thought up the fun idea of doing a collaborative mural, which is when different people complete parts of one picture. Wheeler, organized the supplies and additional help for the project while Farnsworth drew an outlined mural on a large board and then again on individual 4x4 inch tiles that the middle school kids were able to color in. The result was a very lively mural that showcased many of the images unique to MGMS.

Farnsworth and her husband have five children she says who are very supportive of her art career and “the other random things I do!”

Farnsworth’s work can be viewed online on her website: [http://www.erinfarnsworth.com,]http://www.erinfarnsworth.com, or on social media: https://www.facebook.com/erinfarnsworthstudio/ https://www.instagram.com/erin_farnsworth_studio/?hl=en λ