Kathleen Cornell, Artist Who Created Calendars, 47
DGH
Mrs. Cornell, who painted under the name Kate Libby, died Sunday, June
26, 2005, of a stroke, after a 15-year battle with diabetes, at the age
of 47.
She lived in Boothbay, Massachusetts, with her husband, Robert T., and
their 9-year-old son, Thomas.
Artist Kathleen (Libby) Cornell shared her postcard-perfect vision of
her native state of Maine in a popular set of calendars that depicted
local sites and the ordinary people who lived in and among them.
"Kate's paintings were simple connections to everyday life," said David
Betses, owner of Willard Publishing Inc. in Kennebunkport, Maine, which
has been publishing her poster calendars since 1998. "People who have
collected her calendars over 20 years actually saw the same subjects in
them growing up and growing older."
"Kate was a wonderful, warm person whose paintings reflected her keen
eye for the simple, yet the most important aspects of life," Betses
said. "She always painted what was dear to her environment."
In her 2005 poster calendar, for example, Mrs. Cornell includes a ski
scene, still lifes, a child on a bed with a dog, a cat on a windowsill,
the Maine coastline, pumpkins, a boy walking his dog, and a lobster.
She would often take photographs of her subjects and sites and paint
from them in her Boothbay studio, many times featuring friends, her
son, and members of her extended family. One of them was of her brother
in a yellow oilskin, hauling lobsters.
Mrs. Cornell's beloved mixed-breed, but mostly Brittany spaniel, dog,
Willard, has shown up on her calendars for 20 years and, by all
accounts, was a bit of a ham. "Willard would sit there for an hour with
a witch's hat on while Kate painted him," said Betses, who named his
company after the pooch. "They were really good buds." Willard was
named for Willard Beach in South Portland.
Although Willard died in 1997, Mrs. Cornell continued to paint him in
her calendars and he continued to receive fan mail from people across
the nation who had visited Maine and treasured the calendar as a fond
memory. One fan letter, Betses said, came from a woman who worked in
the Pentagon, who wrote how much the poster and visions of Willard had
cheered employees there after September 11, 2001.
She had always loved animals and, in addition to Willard, she had
several other dogs and some cats. All of them were in her calendars at
one time or another, according to her brother, Michael R. Libby of
Scarborough, Maine, the lobsterman.
He recalled the time that Mrs. Cornell saw some children throwing
fireworks at a cat on the Fourth of July. She rescued the cat and named
him M-80, after the fireworks.
Mrs. Cornell was born in Portland, Maine, to two teachers. Her mother
taught art and her father taught science. The fact that Mrs. Cornell
was born on Halloween, her sister, Mary E. Herbert of Cape Elizabeth,
Maine, said, may have contributed to her irrepressible and spontaneous
behavior growing up. "In high school, Kate was always drawing and
writing poetry in the margins of her chemistry and biology exams,"
Herbert said. "She had an artistic temperament."
After graduating from South Portland High School in 1976, Mrs. Cornell
earned her bachelor of fine arts degree in 1980 from Portland School of
Art, now known as Maine College of Art.
Mrs. Cornell lived in Natick, Massachusetts, for four years after her
marriage, but missed Maine so much that the family moved back, Betses
said. "Kate never mentally left Maine."
Before Mrs. Cornell focused on her calendars, her sister said, she made
prints, silk screens, and lithographs, and painted in many mediums.
Around the holidays, she turned out children's illustrations, often
with small animals.
Mrs. Cornell started painting her poster calendars in 1986. She would
do them in gouache and then the paintings would be lithographed. "Kate
was known for her depth of color," Betses said.
She was artistic in many other ways. "Kate was a fantastic cook and an
unbelievable decorator," her brother said. ''She gave fancy parties.
Even on a daily basis, Kate made every meal a celebration." She was an
avid gardener.
With her 2006 calendar completed, Mrs. Cornell and Betses had started
working on her 2007 calendar shortly before her stroke, he said. "Kate
had left a volume of work to produce calendars for years to come,"
Betses said. "She always planned her art work to be a legacy to her
son."
In addition to her husband, son, sister, and brother, Mrs. Cornell
leaves her mother, Juliette L. Holladay of Boothbay.
Boston Globe
Laurie Mann
Boothbay is in MAINE not in MASSACHUSETTS! All through the
article, the artist stressed how much Cornell loved MAINE, so even if
you didn't already know that Boothbay was in Maine, it seemed most
logical that it would have been!!!
Laurie Mann
Dead People Server
http://www.deadpeople.info
GS
"Laurie Mann" <lau...@dpsinfo.com> wrote in message
news:1120499884.3...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
I suspect somewhere along the way to compiling the story, someone was
careless with the abbreviation for Maine, and used MA instead of ME.
DGH
Ooops! Sorry.
I generally try to get these correct, but I guess I missed on this
one.
- - - -
On 4 Jul 2005 10:58:04 -0700, "Laurie Mann" <lau...@dpsinfo.com>
wrote:
Laurie Mann
DGH
So it goes. We just have to TRY to be as accurate as possible.
- - - -
On 4 Jul 2005 12:13:36 -0700, "Laurie Mann" <lau...@dpsinfo.com>
wrote:
>DGH - and then I found an error in my rant too...*sigh*
>
MWB
"Laurie Mann" <lau...@dpsinfo.com> wrote in message
news:1120499884.3...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
That is a beautiful part of the world.
Mark