For over four decades, Stephen Farley has been revisiting his childhood through art, sifting through sand for lost clues and meaning. His childhood is both a time and a place, entangled and inseparable from his hometown of Ontario, CA. ‘Dowdytown’ is Stephen’s name for Ontario, which was a vast and smothering antagonist, the constant enemy of his mother, whose debilitating agoraphobia would isolate her for weeks at a time. Her mental illness, undiagnosed and misunderstood, was an ever-present shadow. As a child, Stephen learned how to navigate and adapt to the darkness, and making miniatures became both a joy and salvation. Subscribing to the ‘model of the month club,’ miniatures gave him a sense of control in an often-confusing world, the hyper detail allowing him to focus and feel centered. More than mere escapism, the models allowed him to see the larger whole as smaller pieces working together, a lesson in patience and delayed gratification, and the ability to take pleasure in the process.

Although Stephen didn’t fully grasp it at the time, the pandemic subconsciously resurfaced the trauma of his mother’s mental illness, as the entire world suddenly became shut in their homes, afraid of large gatherings, and suspicious of public spaces. Almost instinctively, he returned to his childhood coping method of model making. Trapped at home once more by the threat of an invisible enemy, Stephen returned to Dowdytown: he feverishly searched E-bay for HO scale model kits he could alter, sought out online tutorials for distressing building surfaces, and scoured the shelves at the hardware store for the right paints and tools. Working from memory, old photographs, and even Google Street-View, Stephen poured himself into the process, keeping him grounded and easing the existential anxiety.

These buildings are not exact copies, instead capturing the spirit of their original forms. They are small, fragile, and intimate, so unlike his well-known community-driven artworks. With Dowdytown, Stephen presents a roadmap to his past which, when traveled together, guides us all forward into a place of better understanding ourselves and one another. As Stephen says, “As you develop your own relationship to these tiny buildings, look closely. See if there are any stories in there — through that burned-out window, on that faded poster, beyond that rusted door — that speak to you. Perhaps you’ll figure out some answers for yourself.”

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