The Ava Farber Project
Mick met Ava Farber in June of 2008. She had shown up in his recording studio on Vestry Street on the arm of a musician friend. Upon learning Ava was a singer, the musician had wrangled a first date by explaining he had just written a song “Ava” for his friend’s daughter, and wouldn’t it be neat if she sang on it? Little did they know, trained in classical and operatic singing, Ava had the voice of an angel, and a face that would launch a thousand photographs.
At 17, Ava came to New York City from Jonestown, Texas. She studied acting at Circle in the Square, and sang in church choirs. Ava began posing for a painter, Prudence Whittlesey, who asked Ava to act out alter-egos and made Ava a co-collaborator in the work, inviting her to chose poses and bring in props. The work was psychologically and creatively deep, working with sexual and psychic head spaces. Prudence’s goal was to get from the figurative to the abstract.
Ava got into working as a dominatrix after finding a Norwegian Madam in the yellow pages. The original plan had been to try and sell some of Prudence’s paintings for her "dungeon" establishment. The paintings didn't sell, but the encounter did create a new career path for Ava. The madam saw Ava’s power and energy and offered to train her; among other things teaching her not to apologize every five minutes. One of the perks of Dom work is paid world travel. Ava met Tina Jane at a session in Hong Kong. “She walked in, a wild British, latex-clad whirlwind, and within ten minutes had offered to let me stay at her place for two weeks.”