Office Hours: Live Q&A on YouTube with R&F President Darin Seim
R&F President Darin Seim and founder Richard Frumess
Join R&F President Darin Seim LIVE on R&F’s YouTube channel along with R&F Core Instructor and employee Dietlind Vander Schaaf on Wednesday, June 16th from 2 -3 pm EST for the first round of what we’re affectionately referring to as “Office Hours.”
What is Office Hours you ask?
Office Hours is a new way for us to reach artists who are interested in oil and wax based mediums. R&F has always led in the world of encaustic and oil sticks whether it was a physical newsletter, the forum on our website, or our workshop program that began in 1995. This is an extension of the conversation we have been having with artists for over 30 years. It is an opportunity to answer some of those frequently asked questions that don’t get the attention they deserve in other forums.
Office Hours is a live event, but we will record it and post the recording on our YouTube channel so those who can’t attend can watch it at a later date.
And for those of you who haven’t met Darin yet, we'd thought we’d introduce him to you.
Darin making paint at R&F circa 2007.
Where did you go to school and what did you study?
I went to the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz and studied Painting and Philosophy. I got a BFA in Painting with a minor in philosophy, but for me the philosophy part was at least as important as the painting. I saw painting as a visual embodiment of the philosophical concepts I was interested in.
Darin milling paint in 1997.
You have a long history with R&F. How did you first become involved?
Immediately after graduation in 1996 I had a brief period working as a mover. One day I came to R&F in Kingston to see one of the first shows in their newly established “gallery,” which was mostly a hallway entrance to the shop. They were hiring and I threw my hat in the ring. Richard called in July 1996 and I took a job as paintmaker. This included pretty much everything - wrapping, packing, shipping, hanging shows in the gallery in addition to measuring and milling paint. Suddenly I was really learning about materials in a very direct way that was covered in art school.
As much as I loved the job and working for Richard, in October of 1998 I left R&F and moved to Chicago. At the age of 25 a change of scenery seemed like a good idea. I had a few jobs there, mostly related to carpentry or furniture restoration.
In the spring of 2005, I was offered a great opportunity to come back to R&F and work for Richard again as a paintmaker and Production Manager. They were buying a building to expand, so it was quite exciting. In 2009, I bought into R&F, and in 2015, I became president of the company. Looking back, I have been truly fortunate in the timing of it all.
Untitled painting by Darin Seim.
This painting by you is part of R&F’s permanent collection. Can you tell us a little bit about it?
Several years ago, when I started painting again, I wanted to do something semi-figurative and more painterly than my prior work. I like exploring the paint and generally like "paintings about paint," but I felt I needed something to “hang” the paint on. I did a few paintings with goats, then some camels, which are interesting to paint, but I couldn’t really go full scale and that bothered me. With a dog it’s possible to go 1 to 1. They tend to be ambiguously neither falling nor jumping, just sort of floating in limbo, rather than going in any one direction with intentionality.
To me it is funny that they are technically “dog portraits,” but from an existential point of view. They are not my dogs, but they are based loosely on real dogs from random YouTube videos.
The painting above is 100% Pigment Stick® worked into an initial layer of blending medium with drier. No other mediums were used and it was done completely with the sticks and my hands. I didn’t use any brushes. It started as way to play with and test some things we were doing with Titanium and Zinc White.
A lot of times when I paint, I try to combine colors that I would normally not be comfortable with to take them for a test spin and get to know them better. So, I guess in a way it’s just an extension of my job.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Office Hours will take place LIVE on R&F’s YouTube channel on Wednesday, June 16th from 2 - 3pm EST.
To participate, simply go to R&F’s YouTube channel at 2pm EST and you will see the live stream. Dietlind and Darin will tackle some of the most frequently asked questions we receive at R&F and then open the conversation up to your questions through chat.
We look forward to seeing you there!