May Artist of the Month – Meet Fritz Kubitz
May Artist of the Month
Meet Fritz Kubitz
Frederick “Fritz” Kubitz has led an extraordinary life. His contributions to both Art and Architecture worldwide and locally are staggering. He became interested in drawing and painting as a child and his first sign of talent came at age 9 when he won the Chicago Tribune Bird Contest. His father was a professor at the University of Illinois where his colleagues recommended a career in architecture for Kubitz.
He attained his BFA in architecture at the University of Illinois; this also required spending a lot of time in art classes which was quite welcome to Kubitz. “Early on, while training to become an architect, I came across several ‘How to’ books by the artist Theodore “Ted” Kautzy. His subject matter together with his wonderful pencil sketches and watercolors intrigued me and from that point on I was hooked.” Other artist he credits for his development are Tom Nicholas and Paul Strisik.”
After graduating, with his wife at his side, he went into the service and traveled to Europe. His experience as an officer in the US Army’ Occupation of Germany and his European travels during time off had a profound influence on his “desire to graphically put on paper what he saw.” After the war he returned to the States and attained a Master’s Degree in Architecture from MIT. He was recruited by Eero Saarinen, the designer of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. A few years later, Kubitz returned to Boston where he contributed his talents to the design and development of Logan International Airport, and particularly Terminal C, D and E, as well as the conversion of the Fenway Theatre to the Berklee Performance Center. His work can also be experienced at JFK and Dulles International Airports as well as the American Embassy in London.
While architecture kept him quite busy, he continued to paint and draw “at the dining room table” during time between projects. He and his wife settled in Wellesley and have one son, and now one granddaughter who also paints (she attended Mass College of Art). Later, of course, he designed a lovely home studio. His wife is a designer and author; she creates seashell sculptures and floral arrangements and has published fifteen novels. Her cover designs are done by her husband.
In the early 90’s architecture projects were in low demand and Kubitz recognized that he had developed an audience for his other passion: painting. Since 1990 he has painted between 2700 and 2800 paintings. While his early works were mostly watercolor, he realized the demand for oil paintings and quickly mastered this medium as well. “For the past thirty years I have painted a wide range of topics featuring Maine Harbors, Cape Cod Dunes, Vermont Countryside, New Hampshire Ski Trails, Boston Cityscapes and many other scenes from my travels throughout the U.S. and Europe in both oil and watercolor.”
He has been a member of the WSA since the 1970’s and is a Past President. He is now our first Honorary Lifetime Member. Other society memberships and leadership positions include the American Society of Marine Artists, Guild of Boston Artists (Past Vice President), New England Watercolor Society (Past President) and the Rockport Art Association. He has won numerous awards.
A quote from an American Watercolor Society article reads, “Frederick Kubitz has an intuitive ability in choosing appealing subject matter, plus has a unique sense of style, placement, and dramatic use of lighting effects, giving him a much-honored place among New England painters. He is widely collected by corporations, financial institutions, professional offices, as well as private connoisseurs of art.” A quote from this artist: “If it’s in there and it has to come out, you are an artist; if it’s in there and doesn’t come out, you are a patron.”
Jodi Traub recalls a few early art memories. When her uncle lived with her family for a while he painted and allowed her to watch if she “was quiet,” and she was up to the task of sitting and watching for hours. At a very young age, her teacher called her parents to say that she was very talented at drawing. When her family moved from the North Shore of Massachusetts to Southern Florida, her mother found her an art teacher to ease the disappointment of an early teenage relocation. Art has always been a refuge for Traub who came back to the Boston area to attend Brandeis University where she received a BA in Fine Arts and Education.
She has had her work represented in L’attitude Gallery on Newbury Street (now in the South End of Boston) and at The Green Heron Gallery in Ogunquit, Maine until it closed due to COVID. She had her work accepted into a corporate installation at Milton Hospital. She has won numerous awards and done many one person and group exhibitions, including juried shows. She is a member of the WSA, where she reviews new members’ entries and works on exhibitions. She was a featured artist on “Art Beat,” a local show for Cable TV. For Traub the silver lining of the pandemic was that she has had more time to paint: “It’s my peace, my time for me. I don’t think of anything else when I’m painting…It’s the thing I look forward to most each day.” Her work has been described as peaceful and she hopes that her paintings bring a sense of serenity to the viewer.
Naomi Wilsey grew up in Colorado in a Japanese American family. Her love of art began quite young. “When I was five, I was home a lot with my grandmother in Denver and I would watch a sumi-e or Japanese brush painting show. I was influenced a great deal by my grandparents who lived in Hawaii, my grandfather was a Japanese brush painter, photographer, and Bonsai expert and my grandmother taught Japanese and Japanese flower arrangement.” In high school, Wilsey was president of the Art Club: “though it can be quite solitary, I always loved being able to share art with others” and she has done so all of her life. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art and Education from the University of Colorado and was certified as a public school art teacher. Wilsey and her husband moved to the East Coast after college and she began teaching art. While she gained knowledge of most media in art education, Wilsey primarily paints in watercolor and sumi-e (Japanese brush painting), and paints traditional landscapes, still life and florals.
Although retired, Wilsey does a great deal of volunteer work and is currently serving as President of the Dedham Art Association (DAA). She is a past co-president of the Needham Art Association and an exhibiting member of the Wellesley Society of Artists. She loves to enrich her community and still enjoys sharing her art with others. She does all of the workshops offered at DAA and is in a weekly painting group, now meeting through texting. Wilsey is on the Board of Needham Open Studios, where she enjoys having an open house, doing demos and preparing hands-on projects for her attendees. She has exhibited with the Rhode Island and the New England Watercolor Society and has exhibited at Gallery Twist in Lexington.
Wilsey is very grateful for her home in Needham where she was able to build a large studio to paint and teach. In this Victorian oasis, she and her husband also enjoy their Japanese Tea Room which is used for meditation and tea ceremonies. Another great love for Wilsey is plein air painting because “it combines my love of nature and art.” While she has “made the best of it” during the pandemic, she longs for the days where she can go outside and paint with groups of artists
Gardner has a lot of wisdom to pass on to new painters: “Some of my best learning moments were from my worst paintings. I look to the paintings that don’t work quite right and learn from them. They teach me to observe more closely, to sit back and figure out why something doesn’t work. I also have a rule for workshops which I call the “No Masterpiece Rule.” This reminds me that workshops are for learning new techniques and not for making masterpieces. I think a lot of artists feel pressure to perform in workshops. Once I used the ‘learning lens” philosophy, workshops became much more enjoyable. Another thing that works for me is having very low expectations when submitting work to shows. I know that judging art is very subjective and I don’t get hung up on whether I get in a show or not. I have a very laid-back attitude about it which is probably the California side of my personality coming out.” Gardner also offers these three pearls of wisdom: “The keys to success for me have been having a daily painting practice, observing my subject matter for hours on end and having fun in my studio.” 
wanted to be different”, Teresa recalls, “art, however, kept calling me”. In high school Higgins found her creative outlet in both theater and art. She attended the University of Maryland where, with a plan to teach speech and theater, she majored in education, with specialization in speech and theater and minored in English. Her roommate was majoring in art and “was carving balsa wood sculptures while I was reading Shakespeare and agreed to share her art supplies with me”. She encouraged Higgins to move to Boston and take graduate art classes at Massachusetts College of Art.
Upon moving to Boston, Higgins taught English at Boston Latin while taking landscape and portrait painting courses at night. She moved to the painter’s paradise of Marblehead and while teaching speech and theater by day, she developed her painting and exhibited with great success. She eventually moved back to the Boston area and found new inspiration in her son. “I had this beautiful little boy…children are so wonderful to paint.” She moved to Natick where she was able to create a third floor studio in her home. There she began focusing on pastel portraits of children.
Higgins has been a member of the WSA for several years and was a past member of the Copley Society and Pastel Society of America. She believes, “If you are blessed with a creative gift, its important to develop it. It will always energize you, lift you up and bring you peace”.