Cheryl Faber regularly bounces back and forth between Artists’ Workshop of New Smyrna Beach and Marine Discovery Center — nonprofit neighbors that share the building that once housed New Smyrna Beach High School.
As the volunteer president of Artists’ Workshop, Faber has worked tirelessly alongside MDC’s Wendy Castino co-chairing the NSB Plein Air Paint Out, set for Oct. 15-19. The week-long event brings 20 artists to town to paint outdoors with all event proceeds benefiting both nonprofits.
Faber’s leadership has been evident throughout the New Smyrna Beach community for decades. She served for three years on the founding board of trustees of the Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA). She also has served on the board of directors for FUTURES, the Foundation for Volusia County Schools, and for one year as its president. In addition, she served for 20 years on the board of directors for the Bert Fish/Florida Hospital/AdventHealth Hospital Foundation.
Volusia County Cultural Alliance (VCCA) presented her with its 2024 community volunteer award earlier this year. Learn more about Cheryl in her conversation with MDC’s staff writer Lisa D. Mickey:
Q: Tell us about your background:
A: I was born in Hazelton, Pa., and grew up in York, Pa. I went to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., and earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1969 in dramatic arts and speech. My husband-to-be, Avrohm Faber, was a student at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. We dated for a year and got married. I taught school for one year while he was a senior in medical school and then we moved to Boston, where he became a surgical intern. We were in Boston for five years, where he did his internship and his residency. That’s also where my children were born. Our son is now 54 and our daughter is 51 and we have six grandchildren (five boys and one girl).
Q: How did you end up in Florida?
A: We moved to Cocoa Beach, where he was the base surgeon at Patrick Air Force Base because he owed the U.S. military two years of service. After two years there, he did a year of vascular surgery training in Memphis, Tenn., and then we moved to New Smyrna Beach in 1978. While he was at Patrick Air Force Base, he sometimes worked in the emergency room at what used to be Bert Fish Hospital (now AdventHealth Hospital), so we knew this was a place we wanted to live.
Q: How did you get involved in New Smyrna’s art community?
A: I’ve always been interested in the arts, so when I moved here, I volunteered for the IMAGES art festival and that led to me being on the board when Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA) was first being built. At that point, my kids were starting elementary school and pre-school, so I got involved in the schools and helped at Coronado Elementary for years.
Q: Did you know ACA founder Doris Leeper?
A: Oh yeah! I have one of her big paintings in my living room. She actually came and hung the picture she sold me. We didn’t have much money then, but I wanted to buy it, so she let me pay for it monthly. I made monthly installments and I kept all of the canceled checks because they had her signature on the back.
Q: Did you do any acting in community theater here?
A: I did a couple of plays in Daytona Beach and I taught a summer camp. We called ourselves the “Periwinkle Players.” When I realized I could no longer remember lines, that was that.
Q: What came next?
A: I volunteered at the hospital because my husband was on staff there and I served on the hospital board. In the public schools, they started something called FUTURES – a fund-raising arm of the public schools, so I served on its board of directors. I always got involved in the community and I also worked in my husband’s office as his office manager until 2013. I always loved the arts, so I took an art class. I love painting, but I am no gifted artist. And once I got to The Artists’ Workshop, I got involved doing various things.
Q: When did you become president of the Artists’ Workshop and how long have you been president?
A: I started out as vice president before becoming president. These are supposed to be two-year terms and I think I’m now on six years. We’ve been waiting for someone who wants to take over for me.
Q: How did the Artists’ Workshop team up with MDC to host Paint Out?
A: It was held in Canaveral National Seashore and then the partners of Outriggers took it over. Friends of Canaveral asked if I could organize the free art demonstrations held around town and they offered a stipend to Artists’ Workshop for doing it. I did it that first year and the artwork was displayed in MDC’s Learning Lab, with proceeds going to MDC. We needed more publicity and a greater effort to get sponsors and patrons for the event, so MDC’s Wendy Castino, MDC volunteer Sharon Wills and I looked at each other and said, “We can do this.” That’s how it became a joint effort with MDC and Artists’ Workshop.
Q: How do you and Wendy Castino share co-coordinator roles?
A: Wendy is really the event’s point person. She orders all of the posters, postcards and promotional materials and works more with the volunteers. I am more in communication with the artists and setting up their housing. We’re all responsible for getting patrons and sponsors. I love the people at Artists’ Workshop and Marine Discovery Center and I love this whole concept!
Q: How does the physical space of the building work?
A: Artists Workshop shuts down for a week and our space gets used during that entire week. We have two administrative assistants who work on it very closely and all of our volunteers get involved. The final proceeds are split up between the two nonprofits.
Q: How does it work with a nature center and an arts center combining efforts?
A: The combination of art and nature is so strong at a fun event and I think it has helped us bond. Before the Paint Out started and I was just a member of the board at Artists’ Workshop, I had never even met Chad [Truxall, MDC’s executive director] and nobody ever went to anyone else’s side of the building. Now, I’m as at home there as I am at Artists’ Workshop. They welcome us and I think we have a lot of shared values.
Q: Like what?
A: I want people to come to the Artists’ Workshop who might never have taken an art class in their life and not be intimidated by it. I want them to feel like they can spend time with like-minded people and feel at home in an open, friendly place. I think MDC wants that too, and what MDC has done with the site is amazing and is getting better all the time! We can’t do everything together, but what we can do together is so good.
Q: MDC talks about STEM a lot, but you help us add STEAM with the arts.
A: We added the Eco-Art Camp years ago, which is another terrific partnership. The kids in summer camp do the morning activities with MDC, then they come back to our studio where we have art teachers who build an art lesson and art project around what they are learning in the mornings.
Q: MDC has added artistic additions to its programs, but is the Artists’ Workshop learning more about the environment?
A: For sure! They take it very seriously. Regina Wise has held a summer art camp for years, so she worked on the curriculum with MDC’s education department. MDC determined what it wanted the subject to be and then Regina came up with the activities and worked with the art teachers to instruct the children. We used to just close up in the summer and very few of the teachers even had classes then, but now, working with MDC, we have some income through programs, which keeps our doors open. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
Q: Has the combined relationship for Paint Out been successful?
A: Without a doubt and Paint Out has become our biggest fund raiser. We work very closely together. It’s truly a partnership and whatever we do, we know it’s for both of us. We’re both equal partners and we have the same vision of what we want it to be and how we want it to grow. Some of our artist hosts are on the MDC board, so there is a lot of interaction. Also, what’s really important is the atmosphere of the event. The community welcomes the artists and we take great care of them.
Q: How much volunteer work goes into making this October event work?
A: We really start working on Paint Out in January. We have to line up the artists and send out invitations, set up lodging, meals, art demonstrations, organize social media for the event, organize the night-paints at different sites around town, establish discounts for the artists at local restaurants and get information and signage printed. There’s a lot to do. Also, Lindley’s Garden Center always supplies us with beautiful plants for the studio, which turns into a beautiful gallery.
Q: What do you enjoy most about working with MDC?
A: I have friends now at MDC and even if I’m someday not president of the Artists’ Workshop, I will still be involved in the Paint Out. Maybe even someday, I’ll get to take the Florida Master Naturalist Program Coastal class. I would love to learn more about the environment.
Q: Looking ahead, how can you see art becoming a greater component on the MDC campus?
A: I’d like to reach out to the MDC community and learn what more we could do here as the campus continues to change? I can definitely see more art on the MDC campus and I see the value of it being here. Even for students in our art classes to go outside and paint or draw on this site — what could be more beautiful? I’d also like to see more meditation classes or sound walks and I’d like to see more children’s art classes and more involvement with home-schooled children. Those students could do science things with MDC, and then come to our site for art classes with us. And everyone I talk to about the Eco-Art Camp says it would be great to offer that to adults! Maybe adults could go out on MDC’s Forever Explorer trips and take a sketch book? I think we should continue to explore ways to bring both art and nature together for a truly unique opportunity.
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