Thomas T. Wilson
Seattle, Washington
July 25, 1931 – Dec. 21, 2015
Before arriving in Port Townsend, the painter Thomas T. Wilson (Tom to all) made a courageous decision. He would try to live as an artist, not as a teacher of art or an administrator of an art museum. By 1960, at age 29, he had done all three.
Professionally trained at the University of Illinois, Yale and the University of Oregon, Tom had traveled in Europe, painted in Spain and served as a medic in the U.S. Navy. He brought with him to Port Townsend a wealth of experience but little money – which made his decision all the more precarious.
Fortunately, he was welcomed by Peggy Helander and Mary Johnson, leading citizens of Port Townsend, who were looking to make the town a cultural center on the Olympic Peninsula.
Starting to come out of its “sleepy” period, Port Townsend, according to William Tennent, director of the Jefferson County Historical Society, was ready for a cultural awakening in the 1960s. And Tom Wilson, young himself, provided the impetus for just that.
After settling in an Uptown loft and spacious studio (50 by 70 feet!), Tom got down to work. For the next 14 or so years, he produced several hundred paintings – large landscapes at once familiar and imagined, stark tree trunks and twisting branches, and, perhaps most engaging of all, portraits of Port Townsend families, the influential and the humble, matriarchs and their grandchildren. Through his artistic lens, the town was made immortal.
Painting after painting was carried down the steps onto Lawrence Street, many to be hung on local walls, in exchange for dinner, laundry, and labor and materials to make the large stretchers and frames. Important collectors from Seattle, Portland and beyond also visited and took back with them their share of the town.
Feeling that his work was done in Port Townsend, Tom moved in the mid-’70s to Seattle, where he spent the rest of his life. He continued painting and contributed his time and talent to Seattle’s art community, sitting on a number of boards and mentoring younger artists. He had shows of his work at the Henry Gallery, the Museum of Northwest Art and most recently at the Jefferson Museum of Art and History this past year. To document and celebrate his long career, the University of Washington Press published “Thomas T. Wilson, Paintings,” 2004.
A funeral Mass will be held at St. James Cathedral, Seattle, at 11 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 29. “Good night, sweet prince / And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”
