“Glass,” 1999
Oil on linen, 30” x 26”
Larry Webb ’71/75
Larry Webb of Brooklyn, N.Y., describes his work as having an “urban perspective,” which he believes abstracts the highs and the lows of city life.
Webb earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees in painting at WSU, where he taught from 1972-76 and again in summer 1978.
He frequently shows in New York City and has had work exhibited in the Netherlands, Greece and the United Kingdom.
Most recently, he had a solo exhibition at Holland Tunnel Gallery, Brooklyn, and his work also was included in a group exhibition at Studio 18 Gallery in NYC.
He has also been active as a curator. From 1997-99, he was the director and curator of 76 Varick in Manhattan, a small gallery that exhibited abstract painting and sculpture.
“Candlesticks”
Sacred Heart Chapel
Italian marble, limestone, brass, 6’
Jan Kristine Purcell ’78/82/83
Artist Jan Purcell’s scope of interests is far-ranging, and not just in the art realm.
The owner of Sculpture Studios, with its mission of “producing art with a purpose,” Purcell has experience, education and skills in art, law, social services and horticulture.
In addition to her WSU degrees in art history, sculpture and ceramics, she studied law with a concentration on women’s issues at Antioch Law School, Washington, D.C., and later completed a master’s degree at the New York School of Ceramics, Alfred, N.Y. in 1984.
“All of my work,” she says, “explores women’s struggles and courageous attempts to deal with life.”
Ophelia as a Fish
(Diana Lake, Northern Quebec)
I watch you from the hallway.
You sip black coffee from a thermos
And watch Canadian Fishing Legends.
The night before
We fell together in the living room,
And you smothered my neck
With dry kisses, nuzzles,
And hushed murmurs of affection.
Then we woke up, untangled ourselves,
And you held me like the old man
Cradles this fish.
He slides the arctic char across his moist
fingers,
Lifts it awkwardly away from his flannel-
covered body.
The old man is mystified by the vibrant colors
(You’d say O’Keeffe orange and Stieglitz silver)
And awed by the violence of sensuous curves
The char creates with twists and flips.
And, like the old man,
You will release me minutes later,
Ease me into the water with your insecure
fingers on my scales.
I’ll swim away in shock, remember tinges
of suffocation,
And accept your assertion that to stay longer
would mean death.
— Jennifer Heinicke ’98/99
