JOSH FALK: On the Water
From: On the Water: The Striper Issue. New England Edition. April 2026. Pages 22 – 24. https://onthewater.com
by Matt Haffner
A young Josh Falk sat atop his father’s shoulders and held his breath as ad waded across the river to a good-looking trout hole. Where Falk grew up, near Fitchburg and Leominster in north central Massachusetts, creeks, lakes, and ponds pepper a mostly forested landscape. “As a kid, I spent a lot of time iq the woods because there was water everywhere,” he said. “Every day after school, I’d head home, get on my bike and try to catch this one big bass that sat right off the road in my neighborhood pond.” Outdoor adventure dominated Falk’s early childhood experiences, but as time went on and his interests changed, he became an avid skateboarder and found himself more attracted to concrete than woods and water. A bit of a rebel, he was skating and messing with graffiti -one of his first artistic endeavors – as early as age 12.
Falk comes from a family of contractors, builders, and crafters who influenced him early on. His grandfather was a carpenter, his mother worked with stained glass, and his aunt was a painter. “I gravitated toward art and design because as a kid, it was always around me in some form,” said Falk. He went on to study design at the Art Institute of Phoenix before returning to Massachusetts and attending Fitchburg State for three years. “School was not my thing,” he chuckled, “so in 200 l, I moved to Boston for a change of scenery.” Soon enough, he made friends with like-minded individuals and together they formed an art collective. They had parties revolving around sculpting, painting, photography, and, occasionally, they would even put on live public installations. “Painting is a constant learning process, but it came to me sort of naturally. When you surround yourself with people who have similar interests, you jive off each other and encourage one another.” He was finding his way as a multi-faceted artist while simultaneously expanding his portfolio among a community of skilled and talented creatives who supported and admired each other’s styles.
A good deal of Falk’s early work placed heavy emphasis on the relationship between flora/fauna and urbanization. Living in Boston allowed him to reconnect with the outdoors through a different lens. “In the city, I was enthralled by my surroundings, so a lot of my artwork reflected the contrast between nature and industry. Photography was a vehicle to capture the scenes I liked, then I’d recreate those photos through sculptures and paintings.”
In 2009, Falk began working out of King Terminal Studios in South Boston and by 2013, he and Dana Woulfe-a friend and fellow artist-collaborated to establish Studio Fresh within the King Terminal building. There, they painted signage, murals, and offered graphic design services to numerous businesses. “It started with Dana and I traveling around, painting the outsides of buildings. Our first big client was Everybody Fights-a series of boxing gyms founded by Geroge Foreman III that had a location in Boston.” They graffitied boxing scenes on the gym walls and even landed a few local restaurant gigs on top of it.
It was around this time that Falk rediscovered his passion for fishing and, more specifically, surfcasting. “I was going to Plum Island every weekend and soaking clams with a 10-foot Ugly Stik. I caught my first striped bass in 2015, but that kind of fishing just didn’t sit well with me.” Then, a close friend encouraged him to tag along on a surfcasting session, which Falk found much more suitable for his active lifestyle. “I started getting into it and bought new gear that was more accommodating to the type of fishing I liked to do. That’s when Percy Fortini-Wright, a good buddy of mine and a hardcore surfcaster, suggested I fish the Cape Cod Canal.” It didn’t take long for Falk to start making the 45-minute drive from Boston to pull all-nighters at the ditch. “I learned how to jig for big fish on those overnight trips, and when I caught my first 40-pound striper in a 6-knot current, that really got me going.”
When Falk and Woulfe moved Studio Fresh from South Boston to Beverly in 2016, he picked up and moved to the artsy fishing community of Rockport to be closer to the studio. With a newfound hobby that reignited one of his childhood interests, the rugged coast of Cape Ann was an exciting place to be. Not only did Falk’s move to Rockport provide easy access to striper territory, it’s also where he met his wife-an artist and jewelry designer. And so began a whole new chapter in his life.
He continued working with Woulfe at Studio Fresh in Beverly until the Covid-19 pandemic. “A majority of our clients had their budgets slashed during that time and in 2023, I decided to step away from the company.” He transitioned to contracting and continued to pursue art as a part-time gig, painting largescale murals for local businesses-a natural progression from his graffiti work with Woulfe in Boston. “That was a tough point in my career. I had to change my professional identity a bit, but it gave me more time to fish. Now, I go out and fish every morning and when I can, I document it. If I don’t catch, I can still see a great sunrise, photograph it, and tum it into a painting.” Today, most of Falk’s paintings are done with acrylics on canvas or, in the case of his mural pieces, weather-resistant acrylics on concrete and brick.
His mural-painting process begins with heavy-bodied acrylic paint, which is so thick that the base of each piece requires only one coat. “It’s a bulletproof paint that rivals the vibrance of oil-based paint, so a firm base coat is crucial.” To achieve that clean base, he power-washes the wall ahead of time and applies a masonry primer, which penetrates chalky areas and establishes a stable, waterresistant layer. Then, he begins painting in sections from background to foreground. “I paint when I can, so I’m often working in 20- to 30-rninute windows,” Falk said. “The paint dries quickly, which is a blessing and a curse because I don’t have the same blending abilities as someone who works with oil paint, so I have to really focus on fine details.”
Falk’s choice of paint and acute attention to detail helped him to hone his style, which he considers photo realistic, but not hyper realistic. “My mural paintings don’t have big, gestural brush strokes because I fixate on the details, like the eyes of a person or a fish, which can make or break a piece. The goal is to recreate the image I’m referencing so that it looks as close as possible to the real thing.” Whether it be a profile of a mackerel, a coastal sunset, or a school of striped bass swimming among boulders, he aims to portray each subject and scene in a lifelike, yet loose manner that will make the painting pop off the wall. The most rewarding part of his work, he says, is seeing an idea come to fruition and how the community responds to it. “When I was completing murals of cod and mackerel in Gloucester, people drove by and shouted ‘thank you’ from their cars. It was nice to feel a part of such a tight-knit community, and to be able to convey their energy and their culture through painting. I’m my own worst critic, but that’s how you grow as an artist. And thankfully, my family is very encouraging and appreciative of what I do.”
Falk – along with his good friend and business partner Dana Woulfe – has painted at least five other ocean-themed murals that reflect Cape Ann’s heritage including a Winslow Homer reproduction in Gloucester, and a montage mural on the Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, which is an ode to the Cape’s five cities and the industries that shaped its culture. “We painted it as a nod to the stone cutters, whale watchers, lobsterman, and commercial fishermen, and it really captured the essence of Cape Ann.”
Now a father of two, Falk hopes to continue surfcasting, painting murals, and sharing his artistic process with the public. “The murals are fun because they allow people to see the whole piece come together in real time. By putting myself and my work center stage, I get to engage and connect with the locals.” While he seems to have truly found his lane, he’s always open to new challenges (and new canvases). “I’d like to do more work within small communities and private residences, whether it’s on a garage, the side of a house, or even inside a home,” Falk said. If it’s a unique opportunity that allows him to expand his horizons and grow as an artist, he is open to it all. “Doing that kind of work helps to keep artistic energy flowing in the community, and that’s what I’m all about.”