Jacqueline Penney Of Cutchogue Dies June 18

Jacqueline Penney of Cutchogue died June 18 in Cutchogue. She was 90.

Known to all as Jackie, Ms. Penney died in her distinctive Cutchogue art studio — a renovated 1840s red barn on North Street.

Ms. Penney will be remembered by hundreds of her art students, her family said. She had a passion for teaching, they said, and was particularly gifted in inspiring others to develop their own creative capacity to “see.”

Her career spanned her 90 years, beginning with an experience in kindergarten when she put her crayons on the radiator and was enthralled by watching the colors melt.

Later, she won a scholarship to the Phoenix School of Design in New York City, and also attended the Black Mountain College in North Carolina and The Institute of Design in Chicago.

Her list of awards was lengthy, her family noted, and she wrote five books, including “Me Painting Me: A Memoir,” published in 2012. She is listed in the “Who’s Who of American Women Artists and Teachers” and her award-winning self-portrait, entitled “Me Painting Me,” is in the permanent collection of the National Association of Women Artists, housed at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University.

In 1999, Ms. Penney won a national competition sponsored by Watercolor Magazine and was invited with other awarded artists to a week at the Forbes Trinchera Ranch in Costilla County, Colorado. Her work is on display in nine permanent collections as well as in the homes of thousands who have purchased her work over the years.

Her life was more than her body of artwork and awards and publications, her family noted. She had a light and mischievous spirit, they said, which was contagious and anyone who met her knew they would never quite “see” the same, nor be the same after their encounter.

Ms. Penney is survived by her two children, Debbie Penney and her husband Steve Zaluski of Mattituck, and Bill Penney and his wife Robin; as well as her two grandchildren, Megan and Ryan Penney of Southold and New Hampshire.

There will be a final showing and sale of all of Ms. Penney’s artwork at Jacqueline Penney Art Studio, 270 North Street, Cutchogue, NY on July 18, 2020 from 3 to 5 p.m. Those interested can contact dpenney@optonline.net for a private invitation to this event.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Jacqueline Penney Art Scholarship Fund at Mattituck Cutchogue High School, 15125 Main Road, Mattituck, NY 11952

DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Home in Mattituck is serving the family.