Art of Paul Frets: a journey of the spirit

Paul Frets discusses his work with local art students in front of Moses Knight portrait [Click to enlarge]

Looking at his early work, including a deer overlooking a vista, painted on the lid of a shoe box from Clyde Mack clothing store in Paragould, it is clear that Paul Wiley Frets possessed a real talent for art, even in his teens.

Knowing his roots -- that he is a "Rector boy," part of a family for years anchored in this community -- that is exciting.

But looking at the body of his work, from that first painting at age 15 to scores of other paintings which span an amazingly wide range of styles and techniques, it is possible to experience a journey of the spirit which has taken Frets from assigned still lifes as a college student to beautifully detailed portraits, stunning geometric Cubism, a series of fiery trees inspired by the loss of a close friend and mentor, the dancing movement and bold color of abstract expressionism and living landscapes created from natural pigments found in the Virginia soil.

All who are in Rector this week -- whether residents or visitors -- are invited to share in this rare gift to our community by visiting "Return to the Heartland," a retrospective exhibition of Frets' work, at what many Rector natives remember as the old Crockett Motor Company showroom, located at 610 South Main Street.

The free show, sponsored by the Rector High School Helping Hands Foundation, is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Aug. 28, 29 and 30.

Frets agreed to bring his retrospective show to Rector at the request of Helping Hands co-founder, Rector native Bill Carter of Nashville. To help raise funds for the Foundation, which gives assistance to disadvantaged Rector students, he also generously said "yes" to a request to create a special painting to be auctioned during the weekend.

The remarkable painting is of the late Moses Knight, a black man who lived just outside of Rector in the first half of the 20th century and, through regular visits to town, befriended many, especially the children, who loved to hear his stories and watch him strum his banjo. Though the only black person in the entire area, Moses was happy in Rector and, through the years, was embraced by the entire community, which mourned his death in 1949.

Memories of time spent with "Uncle Mose" are dearly held by all who knew him, and interest in the new painting has been great, with many already asking to be placed on a list for prints.

Frets' striking depiction of Moses, based on a photograph by Rector photographer Lexie Corkran, who died in 1979, is at the center of the art display on Main Street. Carter has asked that the person with the highest bid in the auction, set for 4 p.m. Sunday at the Community Center, donate the painting to the Rector Community Museum so Moses Knight can take his rightful place in Rector history. Frets has provided a beautifully framed print on archival paper for the buyer to keep.

It's breathtaking to find so much talent in one man -- especially since the many people here who know Paul Frets still think of him as a "regular guy" -- still very much the same person who graduated from high school here in 1953 and received a Bachelor's degree from Arkansas State University at Jonesboro.

He went on to earn a Master's degree in art at the University of Missouri and a Doctor of Art degree in painting from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He became a much-respected Professor of Art at Radford University and retired in 1996 as Professor Emeritus of Art at that institution. His accomplishments are many and his paintings have been shown in galleries all over the country and acquired by discriminating collectors. Yet Frets seems unaffected by his gifts and success.

"In a recent video interview, Paul agreed he doesn't have the angst associated with so many creative people," said his wife, the former Jerry Glaub, a 1955 RHS grad. "He said he's a happy painter."

In fact both seem relaxed and happy, and there were lots of smiles and hugs as they greeted friends and members of the media for a party last week to launch the exhibit.

The two also warmly greeted groups of students who visited the Rector exhibit this week for a sneak preview of the public show.

In describing paintings in the Rector exhibit which are a part of his "Silent Earth" series, Frets told the students about going to nearby Hiwassee, Va., to buy bags of regional pigments which are suspended in an acrylic base to create the magnificent works.

"These are literal landscapes," he said. "The pigment is the landscape. It doesn't make any pretense. I love the beauty of the paint. It can be shiny or dull, thick or thin. That fascinates me."

To stand before the paintings and study layer after layer of rich color in various hues, the fascinated viewer finds a work like no other.

"Nothing in the world looks like this," Frets said. "It is unique. It evolves in layers and with subtle changes."

Among the paintings on display here is an oil on canvas entitled "Gandy Tree," one of about 40 paintings Frets did in memory of friend and mentor Gandy Brody after he died suddenly of a heart attack. "I did a whole series of abstract trees," he said. "This was one of the first excursions I made into the earth series, using linseed oil with natural pigments."

Frets noted the tree represents life, birth and regeneration. "A tree loses its leaves and comes out again," he said.

Three large panels in the exhibit represent his "Motion Energy and Color" series, started in the mid 1980's. "I did a bunch of these," Frets said. "They are abstract expressionism, a movement which started right after World War II, mainly in New York."

Frets said that, among others, he was influenced by Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollack. He met Willem de Kooning, a gestural painter who used his arm rather than just his hand, and later worked with de Kooning's wife, Elaine, herself a noted artist.

Explaining the broad strokes of the large paintings, he said, "These have to do with movement. It feels good -- like a dance. I try to control the movements and the color, and I work until I calm it a little and create a balance so there is not a field that has predominance over any other field. I try to be as blank as I can, because when I try to control it too much, it all goes to hell in a hand-basket."

The largest painting on display here is an abstract work entitled "Rain Forest." Another is called "In My Mother's Garden."

"I let it (the painting) cook a while and then decide on the title," he said.

"Art is about freedom," Frets said. "Society is uniform, and art stands in opposition to that. Not that it's anti-social, but it's about individuality rather than uniformity."

The evolution of Frets' work through the years is a testimony to his belief in the freedom of art, and to behold his creations is to understand the amazing depth and talent God gave to this wonderful man from Rector. We welcome him home.

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