Joseph Anderson Faris: A Visionary of Rural America Born in St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 1833, Joseph Anderson Faris’s life was a testament to the quiet beauty and profound storytelling found within the landscapes and faces of rural America. Initially apprenticed as a cabinetmaker under his father, Faris’s artistic inclinations soon led him to the craft of marble cutting in Wheeling, West Virginia, at the young age of eighteen. This early exposure to meticulous detail and form would profoundly influence his later work, shaping his distinctive style – a captivating blend of naive realism and hea…