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ruth monsell biography
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[Biography] [Gallery]
Lived: - present
Type: Silhouettes
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82 Westview Road
Damariscotta ME 0454
USA
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Amber
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Ruth Monsell of Damariscotta, Maine has been involved with art her whole life,
even while working in other fields. Over the years she has been an
artist-in-residence at dozens of schools, and worked live at art shows
in four states. She has taught portraiture, painting and silhouette cutting
in schools, art centers and privately.
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Her work as a silhouettist has been featured on a major TV network and
in several Maine newspapers. She has cut silhouettes at diverse venues
throughout New England including historical societies and museums.
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Autumn Stroll
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Churchill and Big Ben
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Also a portrait artist, Monsell began cutting silhouettes in 1979.
She was creating quick charcoal and pastel portraits in Huntington,
New York, mostly from live 30 to 45 minute sittings, but in the midst
of considerable competition, she realized she had seen no artist cutting
silhouettes in many years.
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After teaching herself to cut profiles by practicing on her husband
and children, she found an overwhelming response to her freehand cuttings,
and has since enjoyed helping keep alive a centuries-old art form.
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Lighthouse and Moose
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Wedding Couple Silhouette
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In the last few years she has been invited to work at weddings,
corporate events and, aboard Royal Caribbean cruise ships.
In January, 2009, 144 of her cuttings were part of a New York
gallery show called Shapes From Maine.
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Monsell is the only professional silhouette artist in her state.
She creates well over a thousand profiles a year, about half from life,
the rest through her website, Artful Heirlooms.com.
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Boy with Sailor Collar
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Silhouette of a Young Lady
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In the past four years she has steadily been adding decorative
silhouettes of people, historical figures, and animals to her offerings.
She has created several designs for business logos, as well as two life
sized profiles for a major movie.
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references
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