CONWAY, Ark. — There’s an artist who has only been painting for six years, but she's not world famous and she hasn't sold her paintings for millions.
So why tell you her story?
An artist that has been stirring things up in Conway, Faye Hedera started in music, but six years ago when her artist grandmother died, she then turned to art.
“It was a way for me to process grief,” Hedera described.
Her grandmother's art and jar of brushes are prominent in Faye’s studio. the studio is adjacent to her home. A one-story home—it had to be due to her having a neurological condition known as a functional movement disorder.
“And I had mobility issues all of a sudden and I couldn't get up and down stairs,” she explained.
For Hedera, that meant getting out of their multilevel home in Florida but that wasn't the only reason. She also wanted to get closer to family.
“We moved to Conway because my sister was going to have a baby and he was not allowed to be on earth for very long. So I had time to deal with that grief. In January I was kind of feeling lonely and thinking about the impermanence of life,” she said.
Still a stranger in Conway, she was suffering physical and emotional pain which is not exactly the breeding ground for a creative idea. Guess again.
“I was sitting in my living room one morning in January and the thought just came to me you know, 100 people [in] Conway paint them and donate the proceeds to charity,” Hedera said.
She acted on the idea immediately and reached out to five people she knew.
“Those five people responded with such enthusiasm and love, and they started nominating other people,” she added.
There were two primary qualifications.
“They have to be someone that you love, and they have to be someone who's nice,” she said.
The idea caught fire.
“People kept saying yes over and over again,” Hedera described.
Since January she has put in over 1,000 hours of work.
“I view it as 1,000 hours back into my life where I come out of it healed and I come out of it with a greater sense of connection with so many people in the community,” she said.
The visit coincided with the day Hedera packed up her 100 faces of Conway.
There were 100 mini portraits to be displayed in a special show at the Windgate Museum of Art at Hendrix College, where curator and director, Christian Cutler showed us the big gallery.
Beginning on July 28 you can walk in and see the incredible display in person.
Faces like that of lifelong Conway resident and community volunteer, David Grimes.
“In my wildest dreams, I never thought that I would be the subject of an art exhibit, I’m no Mona Lisa,” Grimes described.
Fashion designer, Rachel Lovelace who opened a designer’s academy for young people in Conway was also on display.
“Oh, I don’t know, I guess it's kind of like a dream,” Lovelace said.
Then there's Mollie, whose mother Amanda Yates had been following Faye’s progress online and complimented her via a Facebook message.
“She wrote me back and it was late at night, and she said I was actually about to contact you and I wanted to know if Mollie could be part and I cried and said that's amazing,” Yates explained.
As a quick preview of the upcoming show, our three Conway faces got to see Faye’s completed painting for the first time.
The idea born amidst despair in January was destined to produce joy in July.
“It's like a big hug and I’m so grateful that I was not afraid, and I did not stop myself because of fear and because of the unknown,” Faye Hedera said.
We asked Hedera what her grandmother would think of all this.
“When I first moved into this house, and I started setting up in this room I just felt like an overwhelming sense of this is where you're supposed to be and feeling like she was here. And I think she would just really be delighted by all of this, and I wish that she could be here to witness this because I think she would get a huge kick out of it,” she said.
Faye Hedera had found her own way to paint the town.
“I think I feel deeply at home,” she added.
The portraits were done at no cost, but recipients are being asked, if possible, to make a donation to Haven in Conway.
The opening night of the exhibit will be at Hendrix College in Conway on July 28 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Faye also said that there’s good news to share— her sister is expecting once again.