Artist shares personal mental health journey through new art installation at Vail Health Precourt Healing Center in Edwards
Precourt Healing Center is home to “Inside Out,” a new work from Frank Carfaro, whose mission is to destigmatize bipolar and other diagnoses
Frank + Hank/Courtesy photo
The new Vail Health Precourt Healing Center opened in Edwards earlier this month and the behavioral health facility is taking a patient-centered approach that isn’t just about treating the patient, it’s about building meaningful connections with them. That mindfulness is exhibited in the design, furnishings, orientation and more. One prominent part about the Precourt Healing Center that has a personal and local connection is the art installation at the entrance. Donated by Edwards artist Frank Carfaro of Frank + Hank, “Inside Out” shares a story about perceptions, misdiagnosis and finding your calling.
“The idea behind ‘Inside Out’ obviously is being that on the outside, it’s beautifully polished and sandblasted granite. Then I split these rocks wide open, and I made hundreds of precise saw cuts in the pieces of granite, using a very special torch that gets up to 5,600 degrees Fahrenheit and will actually melt granite, and the result is scarred stone. So, to me, this definitely has a behavioral health component to it. What you look like on the outside doesn’t reflect what’s happening on the inside,” Carfaro said.
Carfaro knows this feeling firsthand and has struggled with mental health for years. He was diagnosed with severe ADHD. After a brief stint in finance, he started a furniture design and metalworks business and went from selling wares at a flea market in New York City’s Upper West Side to building a 50-person company over 27 years and having 40,000 square feet of manufacturing.
“Then, at 51, I sold my furniture business and went to Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut and very quickly, they realized I didn’t have ADHD. I’m bipolar, and more specifically I’m hypomanic. So, figuring out that misdiagnosis was the best thing that could have happened to me,” Carfaro said.
The change prompted him to go solely into creating art with a purpose instead of running a business.
Support Local Journalism
“I decided I would move out to Colorado and do art that creates mental health awareness. And all the art that I do has some mental health component to it,” Carfaro said.
Carfaro was no stranger to Colorado. As an avid athlete, he’d skied, biked and hiked here for years. He always turned to endurance sports to take the edge off, running a marathon about every four months, he did two Ironman competitions, the Leadville 100 trail running race, The Grand Traverse from Crested Butte to Aspen and more high-intensity events and said the constant training was used to help him “run out the demons.”
“I’d get up and train with the Ironman guys and work out for two hours but by 11 a.m., my head was spinning,” Carfaro said. “It’s a horrible feeling, that crazy anxiety and manic-ness, it’s really even hard to put into words. And just trying to explain it to people, words like bipolar are so stigmatized, so my calling now is to de-stigmatize it.”
Carfaro found out about the new mental health facility through his friend, Amanda Precourt, whose family was instrumental in raising funds in the Vail Valley to provide a place to help others.
“Once I told Amanda I wanted to create and donate a piece of art for the facility, she loved the idea and it’s one of the most prominent features in front of the facility. All the hardscaping and the concrete was designed to showcase ‘Inside Out,’ which is so humbling. I’m honored and grateful that it’s being so well-received by the community.”
Carfaro is not only sharing his artistic talents in order to help de-stigmatize mental health, but he’s also volunteering some time to be a cabin leader for Roundup River Ranch’s new mental health camp this summer.
“This is their first year creating a mental health component to their programming and I’m just excited to share my story and contribute to the community and help out,” Carfaro said. “When people say, ‘what do you love most about Vail?’ My first answer is ‘community’ because we have so many people who are so willing to put resources behind mental health, so through my art and sharing my story, I hope to make a difference.”
