Ken McClure
East Valley Arts
3930 East Valley Rd.
Andover, NY 14806
(607) 478 - 8521
Paintings - oil, watercolor, pastel, (originals & prints)
and pen & ink note paper.
Contact Marian McClure for prints and notepaper
Ken
McClure passed away on September
24, 2006 after a brief illness. One of our Artisans, Elaine Hardman, visited
Marian McClure later that fall and wrote this piece, publishing it in two local
papers, The Cuba Patriot and the Alfred Sun.
Ken McClure: Art and Life
Their house is warm with the rich browns of cherry and maple. The floors and cupboards were crafted by their son Robert and it’s all made cozy with Marian’s hand-braided rugs. Together with the cats on the bed and the birds outside the window, it vibrates with 66 years of memories in a loving marriage. It is the home of Ken and Marian McClure, built with Ken’s designs, filled with his art and furnished with solid, simple, graceful furniture but now sadly without the man at his desk.
Ken came to live in Allegany County when he was just 5 months old. Letters sent to Marian after he passed away talk of his growing up on Chestnut Street and of friends who remember that Ken’s idea of play was drawing pictures. One young friend managed to pull him away from his art for long enough to sneak into the Wellsville Casket factory where they tied down the steam whistle. It must have been quite the prank though it is incredibly difficult to picture this reserved, quiet, gentleman’s involvement. If you knew him, you’re no doubt smiling now to think of it.
At Marian’s urging Ken began to write his memoirs but he never felt rushed to do it. Maybe he felt he had a lot of time but more likely he hated to give up time that he could spend drawing. A pile of handwritten and typed notes wait for Marian to pull them together. “He never felt it was really important,” said Marian about the papers. “He never felt he was anything special.”
That sense of humility is common in conversations about Ken. He graduated from high school and went to the Boston School of Practical Art for one semester before returning home to continue his work with a correspondence course. Marian doesn’t remember why he didn’t stay in Boston. His father didn’t make a lot of money at the casket factory so maybe they couldn’t afford to keep him there.
Ken studied art through the mail and joined the army. During WWII he was stationed in the US and worked as a clerk and also assisted in hospitals using his knowledge of anatomy. During that time he did some wood carving. Marian showed me a woman, painter, farmer and sheriff – characters full of humor.
Ken was always interested in art but never much interested in numbers. He said that he had to be interested enough to get a good job so that he could marry “that beautiful Andover girl,” the way he thought of Marian for 66 years.
Ken’s job at Air Preheater, until 1979, involved creating patent drawings and producing brochures. In his spare time he drew and painted birds, squirrels, cats and dogs, barns and castles – lots of barns. They lived across the street from a stout red barn, a barn that they acquired through an unusual arrangement.
When they were in the village in Andover they bought a horse for their daughter. Ken gave up a bit of his studio space and they penned in their small garden area behind their house but the horse took one look at the fence, snorted and jumped for freedom. That small yard wasn’t going to work.
At the time, a “maiden lady” was living out of town in an old house across from a barn on 55 acres of land. She had to walk to town every day to work. Ken suggested that they trade houses. She agreed so they made the exchange and the horse found the barn and fields more satisfactory. The woman’s farmhouse was old and lacked electricity so they built a new house beside it. That’s where their son Robert laid the floors and built the kitchen cupboards.
The first horse led to two horses and then more until they bred Morgans. One year they raised three foals keeping the stallion whose good temperament made him a perfect riding horse. They took their daughter Mary Ann to competitions. Marian said that Ken was always ready to help his family do what they were interested in.
Actually, Ken was ready to help everyone. The Andover Lions Club recently recognized his contributions. Ken painted local scenes and animals and donated his work to religious and civic groups for raffles and fundraisers. He designed the Allegany County Seal and annually designed the cover for the Andover History Book. He was a member of the Fire Department for over 60 years and a member of the Andover Bagpipe Band. He was an Allegany Artisan and an active member of the Presbyterian Church. He was a long-time member of the Wellsville Art Association. If there was a group needing help, Ken joined, donated and worked.
He painted a woodland road and donated it to the Concerned Citizens of Allegany County during their Bump the Dump fight. He created the perspective drawings of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Wellsville and donated a drawing of the Yorks Corners Mennonite Church for their use on church stationary. Marian said that he did things for people that she never knew about until after he was gone and people wrote to her. That was his way, she said. To be quiet.
Ken carved and painted and drew and designed. He created a line of note cards. His favorite were the Faith Cards. They have flowers and animals surrounding bible passages that he carefully lettered in the center. He did watercolors, oils, pastels, pencil drawings and pen and ink and he did it all carefully, slowly and patiently. He carved people and turtles and birds. You just couldn’t stop his artwork.
On Marian’s first night alone, their cats Jake
and Katie jumped up on the bed in Ken’s spot. Those cats might have napped on
the bed during the day when Ken was home but never at night until Marian was
alone. Now they sleep curled up on an old red bathrobe. Marian feels that they
miss Ken and so does she.
22 Jn 01