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Information:
Obituary - Norman Scott "Butch" Quinn
Norman Scott "Butch" Quinn, 67, a local artist who achieved national recognition, died Thursday, July 27, 2006, at Beverly Healthcare, Oil City.
Born June 16, 1939, he was the son of Wilma Lee Scott, a nurse from Rocky Grove, and Frederic Anthony Quinn, a factory worker from Oil City. His paternal ancestors owned a large farm on both sides of East Bissell Avenue on Oil City's north side where Mr. Quinn was raised and which figured in his artwork. The First Presbyterian Church later purchased part of the farm for its new church building and Presbyterian Home.
After attending Lincoln Junior High School and Oil City High School, Mr. Quinn graduated from St. Joseph High School in 1957.
He spent several years as a delivery truck driver and laborer, but worked independently in recent decades as an "outsider" artist. Self-taught, except for a high school course in mechanical drawing, he made extensive use of found materials such as house paint, old wooden ironing boards and plastic and metal objects, like fan blades. The subject matter, often humorous and fanciful in content, included animals and wildlife, Biblical and daily life themes and the folklore of small town American holidays.
Mr. Quinn is represented in the permanent collection of the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City, the Smithsonian Institution Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., the Clarion University of Pennsylvania Museum and other institutions and private collections.
The Clarion collection includes a signature work-a large refrigerator that he painted and repainted with scenes of rural Pennsylvania life. A collection of his letters describing his life and art were deposited in the Smithsonian art archives.
Articles and photographs of his work appeared in several catalogues and professional artistic journals. He was a frequent prizewinner in local and regional county fair and other art shows.
He is survived by a brother, Frederick, who is an historian in Washington, D.C. and Salt Lake City, Utah; a nephew, Christopher E.V. Quinn, an attorney in St. Louis, Mo.; and a niece, Alison Moore Quinn, a medical doctor at New York University Hospital, New York City.
A memorial mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Stephen Church, Oil City.
Interment will follow in the family plot at St. Joseph Cemetery, Oil City.
The Morrison Funeral Home, 110 Petroleum St., Oil City, is in charge of arrangements.
Arts Oil City
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