Chester County Medicine Summer 2018 - 18

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The Art of Chester County
gwenn knapp
BY DR. BRUCE COLLEY

colleague of mine told me about Gwenn Knapp and
suggested that perhaps she could be featured in our
publication, but that her background was a bit different.
Serendipitously, I had recently seen some of her works at the
Chester County Art Association and was more than intrigued to
meet her as I had also heard through the grapevine the she had an
"interesting and varied background", an understatement as you
will discover. Allow me to introduce you to Gwenn Knapp.
Born in Toronto Canada, (yes she has dual citizenship) to a
Methodist minister, Gwenn moved with her family to Lewisburg,
Pennsylvania at age three, then to various communities on the
East Coast. Gwenn returned to her childhood town of Lewisburg
to attend Bucknell University as a mathematics major. While
at Bucknell her father's untimely death lead her to drift from
mathematics and explore other disciplines. Gwenn had drawn
since childhood, as it came naturally to her and she enjoyed it. She
often Illustrated her writing assignments during grade school, high
school and even college, much to the delight (or consternation) of
her teachers. Gwenn enrolled in a drawing class at Bucknell. Her
professor, upon noting her talent, suggested- exuberantly urgedmight be a better description, that she pursue a degree in Fine Arts,
which she did, and received her degree in 1967. Upon graduation,
Gwenn, on the advice of a friend moved to New York City where
she attended the School for Visual Arts for a year of training in
graphic arts. Gwenn also had the opportunity to receive academic
painting instructions from Angelo John Grado, a student of Frank
Reilly. In the early seventies in New York Gwenn was the assistant
production manager for Seventeen Magazine. From 1973 to 2003

18 CHESTER COUNT Y Medicine | SUMMER 2018

Gwenn was art director for her own graphic design studio. In that
capacity she served as Art Director for Commodore Magazine,
published by the Commodore Computer Company in West
Chester, Pennsylvania. This brought Gwenn back to Pennsylvania
in 1987 and to Chester County which has since been her home,
another artist drawn to the orbit of our beautiful Brandywine
Valley. Here in Chester County, Gwenn has received further
training from Neilson Carlin in the Frank Reilly tradition, and
drawing instruction from Adrian Martinez (see The Art of Adrian
Martinez in the autumn 2016 issue at the Chester County Medical
Society website).
In the early nineties, after finishing her work with
Commodore, Gwenn returned to her favored oeuvre, painting
oil portraits, which she still considers her forte. Apparently,
curious and restless by nature, are you ready for this? Gwenn,
inspired by her son's work as an attorney decides to run for, and
is elected Magisterial District Judge in West Chester, a position
she served for eleven years until 2015. Not to be corralled by
"retirement", Gwenn is currently on the Board of the Chester
County Art Association, a member of the West Chester Public
Arts Commission and a volunteer guide for the Brandywine River
Museum, as well as a full time professional artist. Her artwork
has been shown at Sunset Hill Gallery, the Chester County Art
Association, the 2018 Chester County Studio Tour, and is on
display at Strode's Mill Gallery. Now take a few minutes to view
these wonderful works of art- Enjoy!

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Chester County Medicine Summer 2018

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