Frederick W. Rigley, artist and teacher, began his career as a teenager. Since then his life-long profession has been painting. Working in oil, watercolor, and acrylic, etc., he is best known for his landscapes and seascapes, which he paints on the East Coast, in the South, and in Brown County, Indiana, where he makes his home and maintains a studio.

Mr. Rigley studied at the Art Students' League, New York, and the Ringling School of Art, Sarasota, where he majored in sculpture. He also studied with private instructors including Adrian Pillars and Enrique Elferez, Emile A. Gruppe, Hilton Leech, John F. Carlson, Floyd Hopper and George Bridgman.

In addition to teaching landscape painting with the Indianapolis Art League for 25 years, Mr. Rigley holds private classes in Brown County and gives workshops in the South and Midwest. He gives frequent painting demonstrations to art groups. He has been commissioned by Outdoor Indiana, General Motors and other corporations for special paintings. In 1964, he was artist-in-residence at the University of Delaware where eight of his paintings are owned by the University. He has had many one-man shows in different parts of the United States.

Besides private collections, his paintings are owned by Indiana National Bank; Indianapolis Public Schools; University of Delaware; National Bank, Easton, Ohio; Delco Remy and Guide Lamp, divisions of General Motors; and the Eastern Shore Art Association, Fairhope Alabama Permanent collection.

He is now a member of the Hoosier Salon; Brown County Art Guild; Indiana Artist Club; Eastern Shore Art Association, Fairhope, Alabama; Naples Art Association; Indiana Heritage; and a former member of the North Shore Arts Association and the Sarasota Art Association.

Awards and Prizes include Hoosier Salon; Indiana Artist Club; Realist, Terre Haute; Indiana State Fair; Wabash Valley Exhibition; Fort Wayne Women's Club; Eastern Shore Art Association, Fairhope, Alabama; North Shore Art Association, Gloucester; Indiana Heritage; and Sarasota Art Association.

Philosophy of the Artist: "My preference is to paint in such a way that the viewer senses that the artist, through the use of color, composition, tonal values, etc., has produced a painting with feeling. It is my desire that my paintings come closer to a dream or thought rather than a photographic reproduction."

"Whenever possible, I like to paint on location. Working directly from nature is how I get my greatest inspiration."

"A 'complete' painting doesn't necessarily have to be a 'finished' painting. Something should be left for the viewer's imagination and interpretation."

Written and submitted July 2004 by Edward Bentley, art collector and researcher from Lansing, Michigan. His source is a brochure available at the artist's studio.

Added note:
Frederick W. Rigley passed on March 22, 2009 in Nashville, Indiana.

Information provided by Charles Walls