William and Clara Wainwright - a creative couple

You could call Bill and Clara Wainwright a creative power

couple. They have artistic ideas for other people, even a whole
city. Many of their ideas were hatched at their dining room
table, over good food and wine, with friends.
This table is very important in our lives, Clara said. It is
round and very democratic.
They live in Boston, USA. Clara is 75-years with super white
hair. Bill is 87 with twinkling eyes. Her colourful fabric art and
his sculptures tell their story. Bill likes spheres. Clara says
We just call them the spheres. Its like a pet!. Bill has liked
spheres since the 1950s. Then he worked on designing
geodesic domes (ball-like buildings) for the army.

Bill became a public art pioneer not just in Boston, but

throughout the U.S. His sculptures shimmer in city parks,
hospitals and malls. Some look like balls, others like colourful
fishes. Clara loves his sense of play.
Early in his career, Bill was an engineer and taught at Harvard.
The couple met at Harvards Graduate School of Design in the
60s. He was teaching architecture. She worked for the
department.
Every room of their home is filled with amusing works of art.
Clara remembers some earrings he made for her. They were
cubes if she hugged anyone, she and the other person would
be stabbed in the cheek. Clara says that there is so little in the
world that is a delight. She says life is hard. Bills sculptures
brighten peoples lives.
The couple married in 1969 at Bostons City Hall. A few years
later, Clara decided she was tired of New Years Eve parties
everyone got drunk. She remembered skating on Squam Lake
on Dec. 31 as a teenager. There was a boy she liked and they
skated all over the lake. She said it was very romantic.
So Clara and Bill got together with their friends. They planned
a fantastic alternative celebration for New Years Eve. They
made the churches the social center of the city.

They also

decided to make the whole city a stage if anyone wanted to

act, they could get an acting space. And thats what they did
in 1976. They started the First Night she got the title:
founding mother of First Night.
All the while Bill was making sculptures and Clara continued
making eye-popping quilts. A business partner said It just
seems so odd, because Bill is an engineer and a scientist at
heart he uses hard industrial materials for his sculptures.
Clara, on the other hand, makes quilts! And theyre soft and
they tell stories. R

)
Clara does that by making community quilts with groups of
troubled teens, fishermens wives and immigrants. She spends
hours with them, stitching together their stories.

Clara

decided that she had to work with people who didnt have art in
their lives.
Bill wanted to create art that everyone could see. In 1982, he
got his chance. Logan Airport wanted a public sculpture. Bill

designed a piece called Windwheels. It was difficult to raise

the money but they did.
Windwheels is a giant pinwheel with smaller pinwheels it is
now at the airport. After that, Bill was asked to create many
other sculptures.

But everything changed in the summer of 2002. Bill suffered a

bad accident one night at home. He was reaching out to shut
the door and he fell forward he grabbed the side of the door
and fell out backwards onto a rock. They are not sure if a
stroke caused Bill to fall, or if the fall caused a stroke Bill was
left with bruising to his brain.
About a week later, Bill regained consciousness but he had lost
the use of his hand and his ability to speak. His son said With
the aphasia came this incredible frustration and depression.
And one of the things that he has loved most in the world is to
talk with people and to share ideas.
After the stroke, he still went to his studio every day - but he
wasnt really making work, Clara said. He always had

amazing eye-hand coordination. And then he had no eye-hand

coordination - so he just went into retirement.

As he healed, Bill regained 95 percent of his mobility but not

his speech. Instead of talking about ideas, he communicates
with gestures, facial expressions and drawings. His son says
that he has got to know his father in a new way.
The whole Wainwright family has rallied around Bill. His son is
also a sculptor and started sharing his dads studio. Bill
created the studio so young artists could have cheap space and
expensive equipment. Claras studio is right across the street.
About three years after his accident, Bill did something
surprising - he decided to make sculptures again with the help
of his son and other young sculptors. Last year, he remade
Windwheels because the original piece was old. Bill recalled
the excitement he felt for his very first public sculpture, saying,
Yes, and oh man!
Bill and Clara are known for their optimism, for helping others
and also getting things done. Clara said . I mean Im 75

and hes 87 so at a certain point you travel a little slower

than you did before. But I figure theres a lot of time ahead to
do crazy things.
William died in August 2012.