MILFORD, PA — Hotel Fauchère will unveil "3 A.M.," a new exhibition featuring the work of Milford artist Tom Sheare, on Friday, October 9. The hotel will host a public opening reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 401 Broad St. in Milford.

A self-taught artist, Sheare began creating art without formal training or allegiance to a particular medium. Instead, he followed his curiosity, experimenting with pencil, charcoal, colored pencil, markers, pastels, watercolor, and acrylics to capture people, animals, buildings, and the familiar places around him.

That instinctive approach connects Sheare’s work to the deeply personal tradition of American folk and self-taught art: work shaped not by academic convention, but by the impulse to create.

Among his influences are two distinctly different American artists: Howard Finster, the visionary self-taught artist whose densely layered work brought together folk art, storytelling and popular culture, and Alex Katz, whose unmistakable portraits and landscapes demonstrate the power of bold lines, color, and visual restraint.

Somewhere between those two sensibilities, Sheare has found a visual language entirely his own.

And much of it begins while the rest of Milford is still sleeping.

Sheare often starts working around 3 a.m.

The public is invited to experience "3 A.M.," meet Tom Sheare and explore his work throughout Hotel Fauchère during the October 9 opening reception.

 WHAT IS FOLK ART?

Folk art is difficult to contain within a single definition, and perhaps that is part of its appeal.

It is art born less from academic convention than from personal vision, tradition, lived experience, community, and an instinctive need to make something.

Historically, American folk art has encompassed everything from quilts, carvings, and Pennsylvania German fraktur to paintings and entire environments created by self-taught artists. What connects much of the work is its directness: the artist's individual way of interpreting and recording the world.

Rather than asking whether something follows the established rules of art, folk art often asks a more interesting question:

What happens when someone simply has something they need to make?

That spirit can be seen in the work of Howard Finster, the self-taught Georgia artist, minister, and storyteller who transformed his personal visions into thousands of works and created the sprawling environment known as Paradise Garden.

Finster's work moved freely between words, images, religion, popular culture and everyday objects. His influence eventually extended far beyond traditional folk-art circles, including collaborations with musicians such as R.E.M. and Talking Heads.

Another influence on Tom Sheare comes from a very different corner of American art: Alex Katz.

Known for reducing people and landscapes to confident contours, broad fields of color, and deceptively simple compositions, Katz demonstrates the extraordinary power of editing an image down to what matters.

The intersection is unexpected but compelling.

Finster offers abundance, instinct, narrative, and an intensely personal universe.

Katz offers restraint, scale, clarity, and the power of a line.

The work of Tom Sheare finds its own territory between those ideas.

ABOUT  TOM SHEARE

For the past 50 years, Tom Sheare has owned and operated a business specializing in rain gutters and small home improvement projects. His work has taken him to countless homes and buildings throughout Milford and the surrounding area.

About four years ago, during a quiet winter, Sheare decided to try something new. He began drawing, sketching, and painting.

He started with buildings around Milford, many of them places he had worked on over the years. Soon, his subjects expanded to include friends, neighbors, and their pets. One of his greatest pleasures is presenting someone with a finished piece and seeing their reaction.

Much of Sheare’s work happens while the rest of the world is sleeping. He often begins around 3 a.m. and works until 5 or 6 in the morning before returning to bed for a few hours. After breakfast, he heads back to see what he created during the night.

For Sheare, making art has become a source of peace and relaxation as much as creative expression. Entirely self-taught, he continues to experiment with pencil, pastels, charcoal, watercolor, and acrylics, finding as much enjoyment in learning a new technique as he does in completing a piece.

What began simply as an experiment has become an important part of his life and a reminder of something Sheare now believes deeply: it is never too late to follow an impulse to create or to try something completely new. Sometimes, the thing you decide to try may be what your heart has wanted to do all along.

Peace and Love.

ART AT HOTEL FAUCHÈRE

Art has long been part of the experience of Hotel Fauchère.

Throughout the historic property, guests encounter work spanning periods, styles, and points of view, from traditional landscapes to contemporary photography and rotating exhibitions.

The hotel approaches art not simply as decoration, but as part of hospitality: something that can provoke curiosity, start a conversation, and change the way a guest experiences a space.

The new installation by Tom Sheare continues that tradition while introducing another distinctly American artistic language to the hotel's walls.

3 A.M. EXHIBITION OPEN HOUSE

Friday, October 9
5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Hotel Fauchère
401 Broad Street
Milford, Pennsylvania

The open house is open to the public.

ABOUT HOTEL FAUCHÈRE

Located in the heart of Milford's historic district, Hotel Fauchère is a historic boutique hotel where hospitality, dining, art  and culture have intersected for generations. The property is home to Bar Louis and the Delmonico Room and serves as a gathering place for both travelers and the Milford community.