Artisan Works to proudly honor Virginia Paquin Wheeler at her retrospective, Form and Color

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Virginia Paquin Wheeler: Form and Color, a 60-year retrospective

OCTOBER 12, 2008
1:00-4:00pm in the Workshop Hallway

On October 12th, 2008, Artisan Works will host a once-in-a-lifetime exhibit for Ms. Virginia Paquin Wheeler, grandmother of curator and publicist Kate Wheeler. The show will feature over 30 original oil paintings and drawings, most completed nearly sixty years ago.

The 82 year-old Massachusetts native settled in Rochester in 1951 with her husband and Kodak Chemical Engineer, John Wheeler. She worked as a commercial artist and fashion illustrator for Edward’s department stores and created paper doll designs for the Great Lakes Press. Ms. Wheeler is a mother of four, grandmother of six, and great-grandmother of two.

Virginia was born and raised in New England. Her mother enrolled her in children’s classes at the Worcester Museum School at the age of five. Her earliest memories of the collection include marveling at a massive Matisse painting of dancing figures at the head of the staircase and rotunda. Virginia recalls being filled with awe upon every visit there: “I always knew I would be an artist.” Her family, of French Canadian descent, moved frequently until finally settling in Hubbardston, MA. Virginia’s mother took her to various museums about the region, feeding and nurturing her daughter’s insatiable appetite for fine art.

The Paquins could not afford to send her to classes at the museum school when she was a teen, but Virginia’s mother saved all of her artwork and secretly sent it to the director of the school. Her senior year, Virginia was awarded a scholarship from the Athol Women’s Club to attend the Worcester Museum School for a college degree. The Museum subsequently awarded her with scholarships to complete the program.

Ms. Paquin Wheeler worked with almost every type of media. She painted feverishly with oils, developing a keen sense of color and composition. Later works are delicately created landscapes of pastel, pencil, and watercolor. Virginia’s subjects and illustrative exercises can be traced back to her roots and connections in Hubbardston and depict scenes of family and friends enjoying their surroundings. Upon graduation, Ms. Paquin was immediately employed as a fashion and commercial illustrator. Her drawings frequented papers and advertisements in the north east.

A breadth of her early work includes portraits and figure drawings, executed with a marvelous sense of shape and light. “I have had a life-long love affair with color and form. I still do. I see beauty in it every day, very clearly”, says Paquin in reference to her career as an artist. Her retrospective, Form and Color, follows the evolution of her work, and will be warmly received at Artisan Works by her friends, family, and gallery staff.

Exhibit opening: October 12th, 2008

1-4pm

Free with museum admission ($12 adults, $8 students/seniors)
Artisan Works MEMBERS FREE

For more information, contact Kate at (585) 288-7170
or email artisanworksevents@gmail.com
www.artisanworks.net

Printed from the Artisan Works website Press Room, visit artisanworks.net.