- Amy A.
- Thursday, May 16
In Richland Library's Walker Local and Family History Center, we regularly come across all kinds of stories.
One story I recently came across while digitizing an unusual photo from The State Newspaper Photograph Archive print files for addition into the Local History Digital Collection, was that of Frank LaRosa and his rock art. The story was neither shocking nor amazing – but somehow, I couldn't stop thinking about it.
It is a story about a man and his pastime passion of painting faces on rocks.
Something about the hard-working hands gently holding a rock with a face painted on it is striking... And that MUSTACHE!
One of our ongoing behind-the-scenes projects is that of continuing to digitize and make available online, images from The State Newspaper Photograph Archive.
When we do this, we add the photos to our Local History Digital Collections database. We research the stories they were part of in order to include appropriate data. This photo taken by Win McNamee was part of an article titled "Four who follow their own calling" in The State newspaper's October 2, 1986, edition - accessible through our NewsBank database. When I read the article, I was hooked. Frank LaRosa's method, practice, and motivation as reported by The State Staff Writer Charles A. Twardy left me feeling quietly enchanted... and curious.
Twardy wrote: “Now retired, LaRosa used to do maintenance work for motels in the area, and early one morning, policing the grounds of a motel, he took note of the rocks around the place.
“I noticed they were looking up at me like faces.” Said La Rosa…”
Twardy went on to write that “He [LaRosa] has simply found something to marvel at that the rest of us ignore.”
In the article, a room in LaRosa’s house is described as being packed full of little rock people. “Some depict famous figures; some are anonymous. Others are animals. There is a George Washington, an Abraham Lincoln, an aviator, a married couple, a man on the phone, a duck, a dog…” The list goes on.
“Just as some sculptors feel they liberate forms latent in blocks of marble, LaRosa is able to bring a rock’s personality to life. He’ll turn it in his hand, find a face, then paint it. He does not create faces out of nothing, but rather animates the faces he finds in the natural form of the rock.”, continued Twardy.
Reading the full article only intrigued me further. Wishing very much to see more of LaRosa's rock people, I opened Richland Library’s Local History Index and through that I found that The State Newspaper Photograph Archive which the library houses, did indeed contain an envelope of negatives titled “Frank LaRosa rock art” with a date of August 11, 1986, taken by Win McNamee!
“Wow!!!!” I thought, “Maybe I could get a glimpse of more!”
And I was not disappointed.
Who do YOU see in Mr. LaRosa’s rock faces? Which one is your favorite?
Something to marvel at that the rest of us ignore…
This artist’s story – his quiet joy in seeing the “person” in the rock and helping others to see it – is itself one of those things a person could marvel at. Nothing groundbreaking, nothing life-changing, but definitely somehow – captivating and worthy of … marvel.
All photos Copyright © The State Media Company. All rights reserved. For more information, contact the Walker Local and Family History Center at Richland Library, Columbia, S.C. 29201.