Fred Swarr Is Artist In Residence At The Lititz Shirt Factory

Painter Fred Swarr currently has 36 paintings on display on the third floor of the Lititz Shirt Factory, 5 Juniper Lane, Lititz. If you plan carefully, you may even have a chance to watch Swarr creating one of his unusual fusions of art and music when the artist in residence turns the gallery into his studio for a few hours at a time.

Swarr's unique work blends a picture of a famous musician with sheet music by that artist - literally. Swarr orders sheet music for a particular artist and glues it to the canvas, and then, working from a photograph of the musician associated with that song, he paints the musician's face over the sheet music. The brainstorm for the series, which includes iconic artists like Aretha Franklin ("Respect"), Jerry Garcia ("Touch of Grey"), and Freddie Mercury ("Bohemian Rhapsody"), began around 2013 when Swarr painted a picture of clarinets while listening to an instrumental version of "Mack the Knife." He moved from there to a rendition of John Lennon in a New York T-shirt painted over the music to "Imagine."

Swarr described the creative process that goes into each portrait in the series, noting that he listens to songs over and over while he is painting to get the feeling of the song. "(Then) I pick out photos (of the relevant musical celebrities) that I think express the feeling of the song." Using this system, Swarr has painted artists as diverse as Prince ("Purple Rain"), Leonard Cohen ("Hallelujah"), and John Denver ("Take Me Home, Country Roads").

Only one face in the collection does not have sheet music under the visage. The music to "Jenny From the Block" is located to the left of Jennifer Lopez's face, reversed out against a black background, in her portrait. "I gained a lot of respect for her when I saw her talking to kids about dance (on television)," said Swarr. "She was really kind." Swarr purchased the sheet music and went to work. "I did the preliminary (sketches), and I couldn't put the music on her face," Swarr recalled.

Jim Hoffer, owner of The Lititz Shirt Factory, heard of Swarr when the artist took part in the Lititz Art Association show in Lititz Springs Park in July. Hoffer emailed Swarr about becoming the artist in residence at the Shirt Factory on the floor above Collusion through the end of December 2021.

Swarr will be painting at the gallery periodically. He is currently working on a portrait of Mick Jagger with the sheet music for "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" under that iconic face. To learn when Swarr might be live at the site, search for "Frederick D. Swarr" on Facebook. To see virtual representations of his work, please visit https://fdswarr.com.