Former model creates paintings of flair and grace

The exquisite paintings of special guest artist Wanakee Pugh will be on display during the First Friday reception at the Artist Studio.

Pugh, a former top American model who has graced the covers of magazines including Vogue, Glamour and Ebony, will present her inspired oil and acrylic paintings -- landscapes along with figurative and contemporary abstracts.

Judy Barks-Westrich, owner of the Artist Studio at 38A N. Main St., said Pugh's style of painting captures a unique body of movement.

"I don't know if that comes from being a model," Barks-Westrich said, "But there's a flair and grace to it. Her colors are vibrant, and she has a wide range of ability, and she's still experimenting. Her work changes as she changes."

Pugh said she relies on a natural artistic ability in creating her artwork, a skill she developed during her childhood in Michigan.

One of Wanakee Pugh’s paintings on display at the Artist Studio, 38A N. Main St. in Cape Girardeau.

"I always sketched as a child," Pugh said, "but it was always just a hobby. I had no formal lessons."

However, Pugh put aside her sketches in 1980 and departed Michigan for New York City to try her luck in the world of modeling. She said it was "just me and $700," but Pugh soon was featured as a "new face" in Vogue magazine by fashion designer Vera Wang.

"I was with Ford [Modeling Agency] at first, then Elite [Model Management] stole me away," she said.

Pugh's career took off in the 1980s as she rose to the status of "top model," the forerunners to today's "supermodels." She graced the fashion runways and faced the flashbulbs of New York City, Paris and Milan, and her face was seen on dozens of magazine covers and advertising campaigns. In an industry where careers are notoriously short-lived, Pugh's success continued into the 1990s before she left the modeling world in 1998.

"I didn't want to keep changing clothes all the time and having flashbulbs going off around me, not anymore," she said. "By leaving, I was able to be myself for the first time in a long time."

Pugh took a different path than would most retired models, returning to Michigan to pursue divinity studies and becoming an ordained minister. She also became a licensed seller of new construction properties, a position that took her Milwaukee. Pugh thrived in selling properties as she did in modeling, and she rediscovered her innate artistic ability.

"It was about 2004 when I started to play around with contemporary art," she said. "It was in 2006 when I thought I might be able to sell some of my pieces."

By the time the Great Recession brought down the new-construction market in Milwaukee, Pugh had opened her own art gallery and did corporate work with paintings for hotels, offices and restaurants.

"Based on the caliber of customers I had and the quality of artwork I produced, I would say I was a success," she said.

In 2010, Pugh made another change in her life and moved to Villa Ridge, Ill., to live with her mother. She brought "tons" of her artwork with her and created an art studio in her new home. Through word-of-mouth, she made a connection with Barks-Westrich at the Artist Studio.

"I met Wanakee about two months ago after my dentist bought one of her paintings," Barks-Westrich said. "He specifically talked to me about her, and things went from there. I'm happy that she's displaying her artwork here."

This is Pugh's first art show since moving to Villa Ridge but, with all the confidence of the runway model she was, she said her range of art will please viewers.

"You're supposed to find a style and stick with it, but I can't do that. I express myself the way I want, not as someone else, like in modeling."

The First Friday reception at the Artist Studio is scheduled from 5 to 9 p.m. The studio will have special open hours for the viewing of Pugh's artwork from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information, call Barks-Westrich at 573-450-2826 or Wanakee Pugh at 618-306-4401.

klewis@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address: 38A N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, MO