Frates finds friends live on Facebook

LACONIA — Larry Frates kept himself busy as a magician, art teacher and caricaturist, until coronavirus put a halt to all of those gatherings.

So, earlier this week, he decided to try something different: live stream a 30-minute drawing lesson on Facebook.

“It was sort of a fluke, and I said, let’s try it and see what happens,” Frates said. He decided to show people watching at home how to draw a leprechaun – it was on St. Patrick’s Day, after all – and the response was greater than he could have expected.

Frates said that nearly 180 people tuned in, and his newsfeed was immediately flooded with pictures of all the leprechauns that people created in their own homes. Another interesting wrinkle was that an Irish caricature friend of Frates’ promoted the live class among his own network, and 20 of those leprechaun drawings were made in Dublin.

“I guess he wants to spread it there, because obviously they’re going to be in quarantine and they’re looking for things for kids to do,” Frates said, bemused.

“So, anyway, I’m going to keep doing it every Tuesday and Thursday,” Frates said. At 1:30 p.m. on those days, Frates will offer a free, live drawing class, which he is calling “Drawing Us Together.” You can tune in live via his Facebook page, then share your picture to his page, and see all of the other participants’ creations. Or, if that time doesn’t work for you, scroll down his page to watch it at a later time.

If the first class was any proof, the classes will be appropriate for artists as young as three, as well as their grandparents. Frates said he was especially tickled to see multigenerational leprechaun creations in some of the photos.

Today’s live drawing class will focus on cartooning. Speaking yesterday, Frates said, “Tomorrow, I’m probably just going to talk about how you can take objects like apples, things you have around the house, and how you can turn them into cartoon characters. And at the end, I’m going to show them how to do some animation,” he said. “Next week, Tuesday is national poultry day, so I’m going to do chickens.”

Frates, 71, has made a career out of art and performance. But he said there’s no revenue model for his live art classes, so he gives them away and asks for only photos in return. Of offering the classes, he said, “It’s the right thing to do. I like drawing. The thing is, down the road people will start drawing and they’ll see me somewhere.” He said he’s OK with never making money from the live classes.

“I don’t really worry about that at this point,” he said. “At this point, I can say I’m retired. But I can come out of retirement once everything’s set straight.”