Posted: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 01:20 PM - 9,430 Readers

By: Katherine Kloc

Faith Schexnayder’s house is always inundated with oversized chickens, fish and hamburgers, but she’s not a gluttonous eater — she just enjoys sculpting foam.

“I have a giant chicken [at my house] that I carved back when I started having children,” Schexnayder said. “She’s about 5 feet tall and 6 feet wide.”

Although Schexnayder’s home is filled with her personal effects, she is primarily a commissioned artist, only constructing pieces when there is a demand for them.

Schexnayder has worked for many prominent companies and restaurants around Austin, such as Dell Computers and Hula Hut. In 2006, she was asked to repair Hula Hut’s 15-foot-long fish that resides in Lake Austin.


photo by Faith Schexnayder

“The Hula Hut fish needed some serious maintenance, and they were interested in spending the money to repair it and getting it back into the water,” Schexnayder said. “I sandblasted it all completely back down to bare bones and redid it. It only took me two weeks; I spent about four hours a day on it.”

Schexnayder has been a freelance artist since high school, when she was commissioned for prints and posters and did drawings of people and houses.

“I was raised with the idea that it was very difficult to make money and earn a living as an artist. I used that as my drive to make it happen,” Schexnayder said. “That was my dream.”

Almost immediately after graduating from UT in 1989 with a bachelor of fine arts degree, Schexnayder won three ADDY Awards for illustration and art direction for two commercials.

“The ADDY Awards were given out by the Austin Graphic Art Society back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s,” Schexnayder said. “It was an art competition between a lot of professionals and art students and I was very fortunate to have gotten a few of them.”

Schexnayder has recently begun teaching classes for people interested in learning how to sculpt foam. In addition to the classes, she is working on a book and a video that will instruct readers on how to carve step-by-step.

“I’ve been carving for a while, and I think it’s time I start giving back,” Schexnayder said. “Right now, I’m working on two projects. One is a beagle that I’ve been filming [for my video] from start to finish. I’ve been working on it for about two months now. It’ll probably take me another month to finish it.”

When she is not filming, writing or constructing giant fish, Schexnayder is constantly searching for new projects. Next time you need a life-size foam sculpture, you know who to call.

Schexnayder’s work can be found online at flatforkstudio.com.