Norman Scott
"Butch" Quinn, 67, a local artist who achieved national recognition, died
Thursday, July 27, 2006, at Beverly Healthcare, Oil City.
Born June 16,
1939, he was the son of Wilma Lee Scott, a nurse from Rocky Grove, and
Frederic Anthony Quinn, a factory worker from Oil City. His paternal
ancestors owned a large farm on both sides of East Bissell Avenue on Oil
City's north side where Mr. Quinn was raised and which figured in his
artwork. The First Presbyterian Church later purchased part of the farm
for its new church building and Presbyterian Home.
After
attending Lincoln Junior High School and Oil City High School, Mr. Quinn
graduated from St. Joseph High School in 1957.
He spent
several years as a delivery truck driver and laborer, but worked
independently in recent decades as an "outsider" artist. Self-taught,
except for a high school course in mechanical drawing, he made extensive
use of found materials such as house paint, old wooden ironing boards and
plastic and metal objects, like fan blades. The subject matter, often
humorous and fanciful in content, included animals and wildlife, Biblical
and daily life themes and the folklore of small town American holidays.
Mr. Quinn is
represented in the permanent collection of the Museum of American Folk Art
in New York City, the Smithsonian Institution Museum of American Art in
Washington, D.C., the Clarion University of Pennsylvania Museum and other
institutions and private collections.
The Clarion
collection includes a signature work-a large refrigerator that he painted
and repainted with scenes of rural Pennsylvania life. A collection of his
letters describing his life and art were deposited in the Smithsonian art
archives.
Articles and
photographs of his work appeared in several catalogues and professional
artistic journals. He was a frequent prizewinner in local and regional
county fair and other art shows.
He is
survived by a brother, Frederick, who is an historian in Washington, D.C.
and Salt Lake City, Utah; a nephew, Christopher E.V. Quinn, an attorney in
St. Louis, Mo.; and a niece, Alison Moore Quinn, a medical doctor at New
York University Hospital, New York City.
A memorial
mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Stephen Church, Oil City.
Interment
will follow in the family plot at St. Joseph Cemetery, Oil City.
The Morrison
Funeral Home, 110 Petroleum St., Oil City, is in charge of arrangements.
