Fred Rigley

male	1914-2009
Life city: Owosso, MI
Work city: Nashville, IN
Teachers: Pillars Elferez Gruppe Leech Carlson Floyd Hopper Bridgeman
Styles: Figures Flowers Landscapes Paintings Rivers Still Lifes Watercolors

Brown County

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The artist and teacher Frederick W. Rigley was a native of Michigan, but spent most of his life in Nashville, Indiana. Starting his career as a teenager, he studied at the Art Students’ League in New York. After meeting his wife, Jeanette Green, the two moved to Florida where Rigley majored in sculpture at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota. Some of the private instructors he studied under included: Adrian Pillars, Enrique Elferez, Emile A. Gruppe’, Hilton Leech, John F. Carlson, Floyd Hopper, and George Bridgman. He is best known for his landscapes and seascapes, which he painted on the east coast, in the South, and in Brown County. Working in oil and watercolor, Rigley enjoyed painting ‘en plein air’, meaning he wanted to paint in the outdoors, directly on location. His personal philosophy was that he wanted to utilize the various visual elements of artwork to produce a painting with feeling. Further, he was directly quoted saying, “It is my desire that my paintings come closer to a dream or thought rather than a photographic reproduction.” -Frederick W. Rigley

Additionally, he taught landscape painting with the Indianapolis Art League for 25 years and also held private classes and workshops in Brown County, in the South, and throughout the Midwest. Some of his more prominent commissions were from Outdoor Indiana and General Motors, among other corporations. He had many shows throughout the United States and now his paintings are owned by Indiana National Bank; Indianapolis Public Schools; University of Delaware; National Bank of Easton, Ohio; divisions of General Motors; the Eastern Shore Art Association; Fairhope, Alabama permanent collection; and various private collections.

Rigley’s memberships included: the Hoosier Salon; Brown County Art Guild; Indiana Artist Club; Eastern Shore Art Association; Naples Art Association; Indiana Heritage; North Shore Arts Association; and the Sarasota Art Association….several of which he held positions in and received awards and accolades through. Not only was he extremely involved in organizations of the art world, but he was also a juror of art shows and a merchant of art supplies with the help of his wife. The two of them ran their store in their own Nashville Victorian home, next to their two daughters and house full of collections.

Sunday Indianapolis Star Magazine, Hoosier Artists Section, “Frederick W. Rigley” by Dorothy H. Weston, September 6, 1964; IMA Library Artist Files