Andy Wing, Artist, 72

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Andy Wing was an artist whose imagination took flight as he found
beauty in unlikely places and combined the things he found with paint
to create original works, died February 3, 2004, at the age of 72.

"Andy was the real thing," said Bolton Colburn, director of the Laguna
Art Museum, which held a Wing mini-retrospective in 2002.

"He cared about the outcome of his work, but he didn't let it affect
his art — and that is what separates the artist from the painter,"
Colburn said. "He lived the life he talked [about], and there are not
many like that around."

The museum presented Mr. Wing with many awards during his lifetime for
painting and drawing. He also was recognized by the National
Watercolor Society, Downey Museum of Art, Orange County Fair and the
Balboa Methodist Religious Art Festival, among others.

Mr. Wing was juried into shows in Newport Beach, California, San
Diego, Californai, Westwood, California, Long Beach, California, and
La Mirada, California, 22 times by the Festival of Arts and "countless
times" by the Laguna Art Museum.

His paintings were included in group exhibitions at the New Mexico
Museum of Art, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach City College, the Los
Angeles Art Assn., the Downey Museum of Art, Huntington Beach Allied
Arts Gallery, the Whittier Art Assn. and Cypress, Cerritos and Chapman
colleges.

His works have been sold at numerous galleries — including the highly
regarded Challis Gallery — and were bought by museums, the Xerox
Collection and Lytton Savings Collection. The Don Smith Assn. bought
more than 50 pieces.

"My family moved here in 1962, and one of the first things my mother
did was to buy a big, back-lit painting by Andy," Diane Zelman said.
"It kept our small abode warm and alive."

Mr. Wing's death was marked Tuesday morning by Gary Hogan's trumpet
playing "Body and Soul."

His body gave out long before his soul.

About 20 years ago, he underwent open heart surgery. The measure of
the town's affection and respect for Mr. Wing is the amount of money
folks contributed to pay for the surgery. He recovered , but it took
its toll.

Despite his defiant spirit, ill health slowly crept up on Mr. Wing. It
was a sad day for him when he had to give up riding his bicycle around
town, .

"Andy's painting changed after the surgery," said his sister, Nancy
Wing of Claremont. "You could almost see his heart in it.

"He listened for a message about his art," she said. "If a leaf fell
on a painting, there it stayed."

A "remembrance" will be held at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 29 at the Unitarian
Universalist Fellowship, 429 Cypress St.

"A lot of people want to share their memories," Nancy Wing said. "We
like the date because it will fly away until the next leap year."

Mr. Wing is survived by another sister, Jane Wing Petchesky of Santa
Fe, N.M., and by nephew Adam Kaplan, Nancy Wing's son.

"I shall really miss Andy's sense of history and his perspective on
art and Laguna Beach," Arts Coordinator Sian Poeschl said. "Going into
his home [and studio] on Victory Walk was like taking a step back in
time. I was very fortunate to be taken there a couple of months ago by
Larry Gill, where we spent an afternoon talking."

Andrew Staley Wing was born Sept. 14, 1931, in Greenwich, Conn., the
son of Andrew Staley Wing I and Janet Fox Wing. He was educated in art
at McBurney School in New York, the Solebury School in Pennsylvania
and the Art Students League of New York. He earned his bachelor's in
1955 from Bard College in New York and his master's from Cal State
Long Beach in 1955.

"He always stayed in touch with his roots and the educators who shaped
his art," Nancy Wing said.

What Mr. Wing learned and what he knew by instinct he tried to pass
along to students at Cerritos College, Pomona Valley Art Assn., Palos
Verdes Community Arts and the City of Westminster Recreation
Department. He lectured at Orange Coast and Cypress colleges; at art
associations in Laguna Beach, Whittier and Torana; at the Claremont
Recreation Department; and at the museum, the Unitarian Fellowship and
the Winter Art Festival in Laguna.

"I used to run into him at Albertson's or Ralphs, and he never
hesitated to share his opinions," Councilman Wayne Baglin said. "We
also will miss his dialogue with the community through his letters to
the editor.

"He was our renaissance man, truly interested in the infrastructure of
the town and how it worked politically, as well as being a talented
artist," Baglin said. "Andy's death is a great loss to the community."