Fallbrook attracts well-known sculptor

Searching for a community of artists in a small town with the potential to be a major arts destination, Alan Hochman found what he was looking for in Fallbrook. His present studio is in Cave Creek, AZ (north of Scottsdale), which is no longer the small town he moved to ten years ago.

While looking for a new location in southern California, a friend of a friend directed him to Fallbrook. “It was a fortuitous find,” he said. Here he discovered the Art Campus at Fallbrook, a full-service sculptural facility with a foundry and art studios that provides a collaborative environment for sculptors in all kinds of medium and is associated with the School of the Arts. (The two buildings comprise the Art Campus at Fallbrook. For more information on the campus, see http://www.artstudiosoffallbrook.com.)

With a background in computer software and a career in marketing, Hochman took up sculpting stone as a hobby. His early pieces garnered so much attention he soon found himself a fulltime sculptor with multiple commissions for abstract stone water fountains. He is now nationally known for his fountains that are specifically designed for the people or companies who order them. They range in size from small tabletop pieces to public art over eight feet tall. Most of his work is still done by commission and can be found all over the United States in both residential and commercial locations as well as public art spaces. Examples of his work can be seen at http://www.stoneandwater.com. On the side, he also gives marketing workshops for artists and nonprofit groups to help them promote themselves and their art.

Hochman’s experience in marketing combined with his artistic endeavors make The Foundry the perfect place for him. The goal of the facility’s managing director, Kathy McNeeley, and her husband, sculptor Christopher Pardell, is to establish a cohesive artists’ presence in Fallbrook in order to attract more high-caliber artists to town. They would also like to raise awareness of the artists already in the community by providing a sculpture garden for community events and large sculpture exhibits. McNeeley is working with the Fallbrook Village Association to finance the sculpture garden, which will be located behind The Foundry at 300 East Alvarado.

The Foundry offers just about every feature a sculptor could need in a modern studio. Services provided include mold-making, three-dimensional digital modeling, digital enlargement, work spaces with a flexible 18-foot ceiling, welding and metal casting capabilities. A one-ton bridge crane is available, as is a forklift with a 6,000-pound lifting capacity. The facility can produce sculptural design, fabrication and commissions, graphic design, custom stone mosaics, architectural design and artistic representations. Marketing services and presentations as well as video production are also available. An outdoor facility for stone carving is in the works adjacent to a new storage facility. Space can be rented month to month by sculptors who then have the opportunity to collaborate on sculptures combining stone, glass and/or metal features. Classes and workshops by professional sculptors are also offered to local artists.

The many creative and physical aspects of The Foundry make it an appealing place for the talented and nationally known sculptors who work there. The chance to interact with other artists and the ability to rent studio space is drawing at least one more sculptor to the town of Fallbrook: Hochman, who says, “There are very few places like it in the country.” He sees the possibility of local world-class artists influencing the design of new buildings in town, giving Fallbrook an artistic look distinct from that of any other town or city in the area. Furthermore, he feels that promoting the artists, attracting more artists and developing Fallbrook as an art patron’s destination would benefit the whole town in positive ways.

“When you become an art destination, you attract people with a high disposable income, you get a lot more mid-week visitors and property values increase because art buyers like to live in communities where there are artists,” said Hochman. “Santa Fe is the obvious example, but there are a number of others. Fallbrook definitely has that potential; we just need to capitalize on it.”

At The Foundry he has found artists with ideas and goals similar to his own. Like them, he will be taking part in the open house of the Art Campus at Fallbrook, School of the Arts and The Foundry on September 30 from 1 to 10 p.m.