Wellesley Society of Artists

June Artist of the Month

Meet Nan Rumpf

Nan Rumpf grew up in Burlington, Iowa on the banks of the Mississippi River in the days before helicopter parents existed. While she would not trade her childhood full of pastoral freedom, she had no formal introduction to the art world. She did however have a blackboard in her kitchen. She recalls, “I repeatedly drew horse’s heads on the blackboard because I wanted my parents to buy me a horse.” They did not, but this was the start of Rumpf’s esteemed art career.

After graduating from college Rumpf moved to Belmont, MA where her brother was living. She began to fall in love with New England and also with her husband, David. She and David worked at the Fernald School in behavior modification. They both believe that their success in parenting their two children was enhanced by the principle of rewarding positive behaviors.

Rumpf’s art career began anew when her children were at the Hills and Falls Nursery School in Newton. In charge of fundraising, she decided to organize puppet making and a puppet show. This undertaking was a great success and Nan, with her husband and a friend, began organizing performances for many local nursery and elementary schools and libraries. They provided live music and sound effects and, as the narrator, Rumpf cleverly embraced audience involvement. She sought out folk tales with many major characters and had children do interpretive movement. As artistic director and art instructor, Nan was in demand to do workshops training parents for over ten years.

When this part of her career ended, Rumpf continued to create. She learned a great deal from books on drawing that she took out of the library and was inspired to write and illustrate and write a book of her own. In 1966, after much hard work, her book Puppets and Masks: Stagecraft and Storytelling was published by Davis Publications and was in print for 20 years. Puppetry, Rumpf says, was “my back door into the art world.”

One of the first painting classes that she took was taught by Jane Goldman at Wellesley College. This is where Nan’s love of water color began as she was delighted by the images she could create using the flow of water and color. Her training has consisted of multiple workshops and her main influencer is Susan Swinand. Other artist she has studied with are Charles Reid, Paul George, Miles Batt and Cheng Khee Chee. She loves both representational and abstract painting and has mastered Chinese Brush Painting.

Nan has also become a very popular teacher of art. She currently teaches in Needham, at the Tolles Parsons Center in Wellesley, the New Art Center in Newton and privately from her home. With the pandemic closing down studios, Rumpf has kept very busy learning how to teach by Zoom. She has also taught at the Danforth Museum School, Framingham State University, The Bancroft School, Medfield High School and the Concord Art Association. Recently she has taught at the Wellesley Greenhouses (Friend’s Horticulture Society), Wayland and Bedford as well as at Elm Bank Reservation (Mass Horticultural Society). She has given art talks and demos for many art groups in New England.

Her paintings have been exhibited at The DeCordova Musem School Gallery, The Danforth Museum, The Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, The Attleboro Arts Museum, The Wellesley Free Library (First Place Award), The Center for the Arts in Natick, Art on the Common in Needham (First Place Award), The Clinton Art Show (Best in Show), Post Road Art (First Place Award in the Abstract Show), The Wellesley Community Center (Margaret Fitzwilliam Award for Excellence in Watercolor), the New England Watercolor Society Show in Cotuit (Woodruff Art Center Award) and her painting Soaring was awarded by George Nick in the Concord Art’s Juried Members Show.

Her series “Iceland Paintings” have been exhibited at The Wellesley Free Library and the Newton Library. She has also exhibited artwork with Sally Meding of the WSA. Rumpf is an active member of the Wellesley Society of Artists and The Concord Art Association.  She is a Signature Member of The New England Watercolor Society.

Rumpf has influenced so many through her love of art and her ability to teach and inspire. Each of her classes is taught based on one of the elements and principles of art. She will choose one element such as Value on which to base her assignment and then helps students to develop these skills. What Rumpf loves most about painting is “the ability to get lost… to enter another world.”

April Artist of the Month

Meet Roger Kastel

Roger Kastel is a highly acclaimed artist, the product of his childhood dream. As a young boy in White Plains, N.Y., he lived next door to comic book artist Tom Hickey. He remembers going over and watching Tom create a comic book cover with a baseball game on the radio in the background. He thought, “What a wonderful way to make a living.” He began drawing his own comic strips and showing them to his father who painted as a hobby. His father had the good instinct to be very encouraging. As a teen, Kastel used the money he saved up from caddying to take summer classes at the Art Students League of New York.

After high school, Kastel served in the Navy during the Korean War. Upon his return home he resumed his studies at the Art Students League. He started out with very humble jobs to pay his tuition; he swept floors and made deliveries at NYC studios. Later Kastel did black and white newspaper ads for Reddy Kilowatt advertising company. Next freelancing for NY advertising agencies, he was making story boards by day and still taking classes at the League by night. He studied with Edwin Dickinson, Sidney E. Dickinson and Robert Hale. The greater part of his education is attributed to Frank J. Reilly. While still a student, Kastel created a book cover for a contest: this piece became his first published work for Simon & Schuster Pocket Books. Another of his early works won first place for the National Board of Fire Underwriters, a piece which was used for many years.

Early in his career, Kastel married and moved to upstate New York, where he and his wife raised their two children. At this time, he was busy creating covers for Bantam Books and often went in to NYC with his finished works. During one of these meetings, his publisher said “Read this book over the weekend and bring me a cover. It’s going to be a bestseller.” Kastel did a sketch for the art  director with a Sharpie and was told to “do it that way and make it more realistic.” Thus, he created the iconic cover of Jaws and soon Universal Pictures asked to buy the rights to make this their movie poster. The book cover was banned in Boston and St. Petersberg (the female swimmer is nude) and Kastel thought this might end his career. It did not! Soon Lucas Films called from Hollywood and hired him to create a poster for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Kastel has been a highly sought-after artist ever since. He has done commissioned pieces for many art collectors and admirers, including the one shown here of the girl at the piano. This exquisite painting was done for a Connecticut art dealer who focused on American Impressionism. After 40 years of years of focusing on commercial art, Kastel now enjoys choosing his own subjects. Some of his recent work has been inspired by a friend of his who is a bird photographer. The owl shown here and his award winning “Blue Bird” have been painted from this photographer’s work “with a little artistic license.”

He has of course done some family portraits. Roger and his wife now have four grandchildren, all of whom they are very proud. When his daughter and son were young, they often served as models for his paintings. They were paid one dollar per hour and, in spite of the great pay, his son was never eager to participate. Kastel did not tell them how much professional models were paid.

Kastel was an active member of the Society of Illustrators, where he has work in their permanent collection. He is currently a member of  The Artist Fellowship and the WSA. He has paintings in private and corporate collections and exhibits in galleries and group shows. He feels privileged to have his work included in the book 200 Years ofAmerican Illustration as well as The Illustrator in America 1860-2000. He currently has the French version of his Jaws poster displayed in The Exhibit on Movie Posters in Paris.

March Artist of the Month

Meet Judy Noonan

Judy Noonan has been a museum lover all her life. She grew up outside of New York City and attended a small private high school in Manhattan…right across the street from the Museum of Modern Art. All of her travels since that time have included museum visits. She did not realize that some years later she would be creating art of her own.

Life was full of things to keep Noonan busy. She graduated from Northeastern University where she met her husband and now her favorite critic. Noonan worked most of her life in the financial sector of business, including sales management for financial software and corporate training and retired as a bank training officer. She and her husband have two daughters and four grandchildren who are the center of their lives.            

Noonan began her artistic career as a “hobbyist” making hand-stamped greeting cards. A good friend introduced her to watercolor at a Wellesley Recreation Center class. She took local classes in Wellesley and Needham for many years. She enjoyed the process of Watercolor and appreciates the fact that “when you are done, you’re done.” She is now painting with acrylics and “there are so many more options…it’s hard to know when you are finished.” Noonan is enthralled with all the choices, learning about new mediums and techniques.

Noonan had joined the WSA many years ago as an associate member and recalls with anxiety the jurying process when she realized that she was ready to exhibit. Of course, it went very well. She began exhibiting for the WSA and won an honorable mention award from juror David Curtis. This was one of her first paintings done en plein air. She also exhibited at the Unitarian Church in Watertown with her friend and sold several paintings. She does not focus on selling however and gives many paintings to special people in her life. She ponders, “I can see my work on display in five different homes.”

Judy has taken many classes and workshops over the past fifteen years. One of her favorites wasworking with Paul George at the Lexington Arts and Crafts Center. She also learned a great deal at a workshop with Robert O’Brien in Vermont.  At the Wellesley COA, she studies acrylic painting with Maris Platais where she is struck by his “metaphysical” view of art.

For now Noonan is on working a lot in her home studio and increasing her plein air painting. Her focus is on composition and subject matter and she is hoping to gain more ease in these areas by painting en plein air. She and her husband are headed to the North Shore where she plans to paint seascapes outdoors despite the chilly temperatures. Noonan continues “to love the process” and enjoys becoming lost for hours while creating.

There is no doubt that portrait painting presents numerous challenges for the artist who works to capture the nuanced expressions unique to the individual who sits before them. Renowned portrait painter Richard Whitney has made a career of doing just that, and it has been quite a journey. Over 60 people filled the Wakelin room at the Wellesley Free Library to see the live portrait demo with Mr. Whitney. The sitter for the afternoon demo was Lian, a poised young woman who proved to be the perfect model. As Mr. Whitney began to lay in the portrait, the audience was treated to a slide presentation of some his notable portraits complete with details about the subjects. One of the most striking of these portraits was one of Whitney’s father, in which he said he sought to capture his gentleness and kindness. The portrait, titled “Dad” captured that and so much more as witnessed by the audience’s reaction.

For 3 hours, Mr. Whitney shared “pearls” from his own long and successful career, as well as those he learned from studying with Ives Gammell, all while painting the portrait sketch of Lian. It was an afternoon to remember for both artists and non artists alike. The WSA is grateful to Mr. Whitney and his wife Sandy for coming down from New Hampshire to make this program possible.

The WSA would like to thank the Wellesley Free Library for providing the venue for this program and providing technology staff to assist with the set up for the event.

After much anticipation the “For the Love of Animals” program featuring animal portrait Johanne Mangi drew a crowd of over 5o people. The evening’s program opened with a special visit from Sue Webb, Director of (SPIN) Stray Pets in Need and the Animal Control Officer for  Wellesley, who gave a brief overview of this local program which supports the care and adoption of stray animals. The WSA also collected donations of pet food and blankets for SPIN from many attending the program.

Most portrait artists prefer doing portraits with live models and Johanne was no exception when she requested a live model for the evening’s painting demo. Fortunately the WSA found Maestro a therapy dog and his partner Suzanne Woolston Bossert. Maestro works at the Barbara McGinnis House  run by Boston Healthcare for the Homeless where he brings comfort to some very ill patients. It took no time to see that Maestro was indeed a mellow and calming dog, who proved to be the perfect “sitter” for the portrait demo. Johanne quickly observed Maestro, and noted his gorgeous coat color and said if she had  only used a photo she probably would not have seen the color richness and variation. She also encouraged the audience many of whom were painters to observe carefully noting the mannerisms that were unique to Maestro. In less than two hours, Johanne had painted a sketch of Maestro which captured  his endearing expression. She plans to finish the painting in her studio and will share the finished painting with the WSA when it is completed. Johanne’s intuitive approach to painting was inspiring to some in the audience who were not painters. She believes we can all learn to paint without going to art school, but practice, persistence  and finding subject matter you love are a must.

The WSA owes an enormous thanks to Suzanne Woolston Bossert, Maestro’s partner for bringing him to the library and sharing his story about how he became a therapy dog. 

The WSA is also grateful to the Wellesley Free Library for providing the venue for the evening’s program and their technical support.