Page 4 - Lynchburg
P. 4
Fish — Onyx Sculpture
Head — Carrara Marble
Artist, sculptor, filmmaker; designer, tual appetite also became whetted to illustrator and publisher of fine books; know more about my gracious host. a marvelousy entertaining and delight (By the way, both were pleasantly
though her careers as both artist and wife intermingle with and compli ment her husband’s creative bent, her story must be told at a later date.
a 9 to 5 job and has no intentions of for the music to begin. Carved heads, ever doing so; doesn’t believe in hav based on natural forms but crafted
Bom in Bogota, Colombia, Alfonso in itself, always a serious undertak- Umana studied at the Academia San
Fernando de Bellas Artes in Madrid and at the Academic Julian in Paris. New York City has been his home for the past 30 years — he still maintains a studio there ■— but now "beautiful but much calmer” Lynchburg is Umana’s choice of permanent resi dence. As a matter of fact, he owns two houses here: one on Rivermont Avenue and another on Timberlake.
I interviewed Umana informally over a typical light midday repast at his home on Rivermont. For this particular meal marinated sardine like fish, fresh homemade celeriac and carrott salads served with French bread and red wine were the main course.
As my taste-buds were tantalized by this simple yet delicious food serv ed in the European way, my intellec-
Dolphin — Black Marble
satisfied.)
I soon learned that Umana, with
ful person are attributes all applicable
to Alfonso Umafia. But these words,
descriptive as they might be, are but
inept literary vehicles when it comes
to accurately describing the man. I
know, because I have had the pleasure
of meeting and dining with him and
his talented wife Helen McGehee.
Helen — dancer, choreographer, in during World War II; has never held ful dancers were poised just waiting structor — is yet another subject, and
■
j
.A I
r
Head — Vermont Marble
ing and a full-time profession.
As we sipped some demi-tasse, Umafia and I casually strolled from room to room discussing the various art forms displayed. A mini-museum crammed with a life time of pictorial events and feelings stood before me. No medium has escaped Umafias tal
his melodious accent, is very easy to
speak with, even on a first encounter
and extremely willing to share both
his personal experiences and philos ented fingers.
ophy on life. For instance: he will Black and white graphic illustra
ingly served in the U.S. Armed Forces tions and colored paintings of grace
ing debts of any kind; would never consider letting “Hertz put him in the driver’s seat”; for him art is an end
with Umafia's original interpretations peered at me from pedestals and bases of various descriptions (sculpture in the round): black and white marble heads, heads with holes for eyes, heads with aquiline noses; smoothly polished heads, heads with rough sur faces.
Intricate miniatures painstakingly sketched and colored on bits of ivory regally sat beneath lamps; here, I spot ted a decorated egg shell, there, an antique from 16th century Spain. Large paintings literally jumped off the walls with Umafia’s imaginative representations of existance on another planet, with long slender threads of some life-form suggesting more than three dimensions. People in a park are romping and playing guitars and I almost heard them beckoning me to
join them.
My untrained eye also came to ad
mire the artistry expressed in the numerous pieces of wrought iron and
42
LYNCHBURG
