Faran Riley (b.1986) exudes a sense of gentle calm and studied thoughtfulness. As a mother, it breaks my heart to learn she was in a less-than-happy relationship during all of her twenties. But, she says, the dissolution of that pairing was spurred by her return to drawing and to the centering meditation of her own art practice, and for that she is grateful.
Riley is the daughter of creative parents who moved here in the 70’s to manage River Street Pottery, and then opened Mud Pie Gallery on Oglethorpe, a hub for artistic thought and inspiration that showcased photography, paintings, pottery, and sculpture.
“My father, David Peterson, is a ceramic sculptor who set up the kiln at Savannah Arts Academy. He was a marine surveyor, but when I was at Savannah Arts, he volunteered at the school and it reignited his passion for his art,” she tells me, adding, “My mom is still creative too – we do indigo dying together and she’s always making things.”
We meet in Riley’s roomy workspace at ARTS Southeast’s Sulfur Studios, where she has been creating since November of 2020. A native of Thunderbolt, she attended The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Tufts University (which have since merged) after graduating from Savannah Arts. Her chosen field of study was relational aesthetics and installation art, and, drawn to metalworking and welding, her joy was to create site-specific installations and interactive experiences. She laughs when she describes one of her favorite projects – fabricating a 24-hour diner out of cardboard and duct tape and having her classmates take shifts to serve homemade pie and coffee around the clock for a week.
During college she made money by designing department store displays and working as a studio assistant to her mentor, the abstract artist and architectural theorist Yunhee Min. Afterwards, she began studying independently with a critique group of architects, artists, and scientists in the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT. The softly spoken young woman says she is a lifelong learner, always referring to the texts and art books that line her studio, following the work of new artists, and building her catalog of knowledge by keeping up with the latest art criticism and philosophy.
When she relocated to Brooklyn in 2011, Riley left installation work and viewer experiences behind as she scrambled to make a living and weather her imperfect relationship. During this period, her art practice, like her spirit, dwindled down to almost nothing, becoming smaller, minutely detailed and more introspective. Having apprenticed with a jeweler in Boston, she found work managing a high-end jewelry store selling engagement rings and wedding bands. Today, she supplements her art income by freelancing as a jewelry designer of bespoke pieces that incorporate gemstones from family heirlooms.
Riley tells me, “Eventually, I started drawing again like crazy and I think my artwork helped me realize I needed to get away from my boyfriend.”
By then, it was 2020. Newly single, she had just downloaded a dating app when the city shut down because of the pandemic. Riley packed up a rental car on St. Patrick’s Day and, to the great relief of her parents, returned to Savannah.
By leaving New York, she acquired both the physical space and the time to create, mounting her first show of coastal, moonlit work at Sulfur Studios within less than a year. The show, “Another Realm” with fellow artists Ruth Sykes and Sally Mayer Seidl, was inspired by a magical 36-hour stay on Little Tybee. Her website explains, “I am acquainted with the incredibly lush environments on our barrier islands….My drawings capture moments late at night inspired by the long, solitary walks I take in the after hours. In the studio, I meditate on my past walks and try to remember the moments of light and shadow as well as the sounds of the animals in the marsh and trees. I set a scene of overgrown gardens or tree lines backlit by moonlight with hidden creatures lurking through my introspective drawing practice. I conjure imaginary animals, fungi, and plants and visualize alien landscapes.”
Riley tells me that while she was in New York, “I kept drawing palmettos over and over. There is something about making those long fronds that was calming to me. My family is from coastal Maine so there is a lot of water, and light reflecting on water in my work.”
Those influences continue in her show “Curiosities” opening on July 14 at Ology Gallery, a new rental space run by Clair Buckner and Wendy Melton, next to their Clayer and Company pottery studio on Bonaventure Road. The same shadowy, moody darkness and driftwood and palmetto subject matter pervade many of Riley’s new pieces.
“There is something about the nighttime where your senses are more attuned, you’re hearing a lot more, and the shadow play is more imaginative. I like the washed-out colors at night. I was color-phobic for a long time and only worked in pen and ink.”
There will, however, be more color in this show, and the main departure will be the “curiosities.”
She says, “I’ve been collecting all these rocks for years. The things I’m drawn to, look like other things to me.”
For example, she has a painting of a woman walking up a staircase because she has a rock in which she sees that image... She sees a falcon in another pebble; the nose of a cat in another; an eye in yet another. She shows me a small dark canvas of tree trunks inspired by the vertical striations in a stone she collected on the uninhabited island of Brimstone, far off the coast of Maine. The inspirational pebble, rock, or piece of coral will be displayed with the resulting art piece, but she is quick to tell me, the natural elements will not be for sale: “Part of my plan is that I may return the rock to where I found it. Because it has given the painting to me, and I need to let it go.”
In addition to the items placed on pedestals, Riley will have rock and pebble installations on the ground, an aspect of the exhibition that she hopes will occur organically when she starts hanging the work in the gallery. There are five framed pieces, two large works on paper painted in acrylic with colored pencil, which will hang on the wall with magnets, and at least eight smaller paintings.
She says, “Sometimes going to an art opening can feel a bit reverential. I feel my work is emotional and tactile. I want people to touch the rocks and for it to be interactional.”
Calling her opening a ‘party,’ rather than a reception, Faran Riley invites the public to experience her “Curiosities” on Friday, July 14 from 6 to 9pm at Ology Art Gallery, 415 Bonaventure Rd. in Thunderbolt. Work is installed through July 28 and gallery hours are Thursday through Saturday, noon to 5pm, and by appointment (email faranriley@gmail). Find out more at faranriley.com or @faranriley.
