Artist’s only limit ‘is my imagination’
Roch Fautch, 46, is an artist and designer whose style ranges from classical to surreal. “Surrealism is closest to my heart,” he said, “it’s the twisting of reality.”
He creates pieces miniature to monumental in size in many mediums including paint, wood, plastics, fiberglass, concrete, clay, rubber, urethanes and silicones. He does paintings and designs molds for art products, builds artificial rock features and is a decorative concrete specialist. “If I can imagine it, I can do it.”
His grandfather, Leo Vincent Fautch, was a pen and ink cartoonist and sparked Fautch’s interest in art.
“I remember sitting and watching him and my father play chess and at the same time he’d draw little cartoons for me,” he said. “He also taught me one of my most valued skills, the importance of being ambidextrous.”
His father, William R. Fautch, also did cartoons and graphics and, as an engineer for Kaiser, taught Fautch to think in terms of structure and design.
At 4, Fautch was introduced to pictures of works by Michelangelo and Salvador Dali. He was hooked. “At that moment, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up,” he said.
Other than the classes he took at East Valley High School and the encouragement of other artists, Fautch is self-taught. He read scores of books and experimented with an array of materials, all the while, developing his own style. Fueled by his imagination and the passion to create, Fautch applies his creativity to everything that he does.
Always the artist, there were times when Fautch made things and sold them out of his car in order to make ends meet. After a divorce, he was homeless for a few months and to support himself he found a creative outlet in concrete. Several private commissions got him back on his feet and earned him credibility.
For the former Bayou Brewing Co., Fautch built cypress stump table bases and tap handles. He also helped designed the Bayou’s Pig Out at the Park booth and haunted house. He painted murals at Wonderland Golf and Game, and did a life-size sculpture of Jackie Gleason for Carr’s One of a Kind in The World Museum. He served for two years at Lakeland Co. as a master sculptor, mold builder and concrete specialist, where he worked on projects in casinos, theme parks and private homes.
One job he did graced the pages of the Spokane, Coeur d’Alene Living Magazine, showing photos of his carved concrete creations. “The only limit,” he said, “is my imagination.” He can make concrete look like anything, including an eagle in flight, a bear, marble and natural rock formations.
Fautch went on to develop a low-cost collectible line of clocks, lamps, figurines and candleholders, which he has sold in galleries and gift shops. For these, he makes molds, casts and paints them. With these, he hopes to open a small manufacturing facility and employ homeless people, street kids, and single mothers who will produce and market Fautch’s designs.
“Through this effort, they will acquire skills and resources, showing them they can build a life based on their passions, a life they can love and be proud of,” he said.