The Rigley Sisters
Growing Up with Artists
father— their childhood experiences have instilled in them a life-long love for art and other creative pursuits.
The sisters recently reminisced about growing up in Brown County as they sat in Ellen’ s home just north of Nashville. The rustic dwelling features exposed wooden beams, paintings, and antique furniture, such as a hutch filled with pewter dishes.
Ellen was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and moved to Brown County in 1951, at age four, after her father had met Shulz, who convinced him to join the artists colony.
But selling paintings didn’ t pay all the bills, and the family patriarch supplemented the family’ s income through teaching, by hosting tourists, and with sales from the art supply store, which was on Van Buren Street, where the Brown County Playhouse is today.
“ He sold paintings out of our living room, and we rented rooms upstairs,” Joan said.
Ellen said that lots of kids lived downtown at the time, and they all knew one another. Her mother, Jeanette, would occasionally send her to the downtown grocery store to pick up local bread. She was only five or six years old, but no one worried about such things at the time. Her black dog, named Rascal, would follow her and wait outside the grocery store.
Ellen said she got to know many of the artists, including L. O. Griffith and V. J. Cariani, by accompanying her father to the artists’ homes.
Her father held the other artists in high regard, and as a young member always felt privileged to be included.
While he shared his love for his craft with his daughters— he painted watercolors with his younger daughter on vacations in Gloucester— he steered them from following in his footsteps.
“ He didn’ t want us kids to be artists,” Ellen said.“ Because it was a hard life.”
He sold his paintings generally for a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, the sisters said. Some sold for less than $ 100.
Ellen with her mom Jeanette in Massachusetts.
Fred Rigley painting a field in Belmont in 2001.
And all the things he had to do to supplement his income kept him away from painting, Ellen said.
He did not really like novice painters, the sisters recalled with a chuckle.
“ Beginning artists usually just wanted him to paint their painting,” Ellen said.
“ He would complain about that,” her sister agreed.
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March / April 2022 • Our Brown County 17