Earlier this fall we received the sad news
that one of the most prolific
painters of Boca Grande
landscapes, Wini Smart, had
passed away in Maine. Her
studio is a staple of Park
Avenue (now operated by
her daughter, Gail Cleveland
and Gail’s husband, Terry),
and many who love our
island wouldn’t think of
shopping downtown
without stopping in.
She loved our island
fiercely, maybe almost as
much as her other island
home in Maine.
Winifred Smart Quackenbush
was born on March 17, 1932 in
Neptune, N.J. and died on September
15, 2017 in her Maine hometown.
She was very well-renowned as an artist in
many mediums but her specialty and love was
watercolors, and her paintings are in
private and public collections in
nearly every state and in Europe,
Canada, and South America.
Wini graduated from
Pt. Pleasant Beach High
School, NJ, then studied at
the Philadelphia Museum
College of Art, the Fleisher
Art Memorial in Philadelphia,
and the Art Students
League in New York.
She has painted in many
beautiful places but she
continually returned to an
island off the coast of Mount
Desert, Maine, a place she called
her "spiritual home." There she
renewed her inspiration each year to
capture the essence of this island, the
spirit and feeling of the place.
42 GASPARILLA ISLAND November/December 2017