Fiona Cooper Fenwick: bringing everyday landscapes to life

By Phyl Newbeck

Fiona Cooper Fenwick always loved art but never thought she’d be able to make a career of it. At Bennington College she initially focused her attention on architecture, but eventually she switched to painting. These days, the Hinesburg artist’s work hangs in galleries across the region, as well as adorning the walls of libraries and restaurants.

Fenwick works in oils and pastels and is happiest when she is painting outdoors. “I love to be outside,” she said. “It’s great to just stand out in the world and paint. I feel as though I’m the most fortunate person in the world because my office is a field, the side of a hill, or just off a dirt road. I get to breathe the air and listen to birds and feel the wind blow.”

Fenwick paints outdoors throughout the spring, summer, and fall and has even ventured out for a few winter paintings. “I go as soon as it’s warm enough to go outside and I paint until it’s far too cold,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll paint and run back to my car to warm my fingers and then go back out. I’ll paint in the rain as long as it’s not pouring.” Fenwick describes her focus as “looking for the extraordinary in the ordinary,” by choosing the kinds of intimate landscapes one sees daily, rather than grand vistas.

Fenwick is more than willing to help others hone their craft but prefers working side-by-side with fellow artists to teaching classes. That’s one of the reasons she enjoys Vermont’s annual Open Studio Tour which takes place the last weekend in May. “I like it because people come for a variety of reasons,” she said. “Some are art connoisseurs, others are either new or established artists, or people who just want to learn more about art.”

Thirteen years ago, Fenwick and her husband were looking for a place to build a home and kept coming back to a property in Hinesburg which they valued for its beauty and peacefulness. Fenwick’s husband designed and built the home and Fenwick still glories in their location. “I feel like I’m on vacation in my own home,” she said.

In addition to her artwork, Fenwick works for Vermont Framemakers in Waterbury Center and serves on the board of the Bryan Gallery in Jeffersonville. “Working at the Bryan has been a really positive experience,” she said. “It has given me an opportunity to look at other’s people artwork and put together shows based on ideas and to think about the lineage of artists which is very important.”

In college, Fenwick studied Abstract Impressionism and her first paintings were four foot by six foot canvasses. In the early 90’s she started doing realism and these days she’s trying to see how the two styles relate. “I feel like through my paintings I can tell you about how I see and feel about life,” she said. “It’s my biography and my philosophy. There’s always something to look forward to in painting.”