An Empty Nester's Life in the Suburbs
For decades, the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco repaired and serviced ships critical to military operations in World War II, and after the war, decontaminated ships. Now, the decommissioned shipyard is home to more than 250 artists, including Howard Hersh, an abstract painter.
At her home in Brisbane, Australia, Rachael Wellisch converted a small garage into a studio. On the floor, the Australian fiber artist works, while at a desk stacked with books and papers, she writes and does research. The open area space has enough room to store books, textiles, and other art materials, as well as camping gear and a few tools. Her twelve-year-old daughter, Indigo, regularly raids her mother’s stationery and art supplies, while her dog Charli curls up between piles of fabric. Needless to say, the car is not parked in the garage.
Cher Pruys is a self-taught, hyperrealist Canadian artist living in Devlin, Ontario. By age three, she was seldom found without a drawing tool in hand. Over the years, she worked in pencil, charcoal and ink, until, at the age of thirty-five, she picked up a paintbrush and began painting with oil paints. Later, she found her chosen mediums in acrylic, watercolor and gouache.
Jaynie Crimmins, a New York City-based artist, creates alternative narratives from quotidian materials. Her work has been shown at Art on Paper, New York City and exhibited at the Sharjah Museum of Art in the United Arab Emirates; SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York; Governor’s Island Art Fair, New York; the National Museum of Romanian Literature in Bucharest; the Hunterdon Art Museum, New Jersey; and many other museums.
Amy Ragus is a photocollage/mixed media artist who considers herself a painter who uses photo fragments as brushstrokes on a larger field. Her work in photocollage has been exhibited in one-person and group exhibits in the US and abroad. She was a founding partner of Fine Arts Express, Inc. and an assistant professor of Art at Regis College. She is a three-time MacDowell Fellow and has been an artist-in-residence at Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland, Yosemite National Park in California, the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology in Oregon, the Virginia Center for the Arts, and others. She earned an MFA in painting from Columbia University and a BA in studio art from Wellesley College. Ragus, who was born in New York City, now lives in a small farmhouse in the woods near Walpole, Mass. Her work appears in WTP Vol. VIII #9.
Jennie Nelson Writes 