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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spokane artist dies in Florida

McCutcheon (Photo Archive / The Spokesman-Review)

Nancy W. McCutcheon, 86, a well-known Spokane artist and the wife of former Spokesman-Review editorial cartoonist Shaw McCutcheon, died Tuesday at her winter home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Her husband said she “passed away peacefully in her sleep.” She and her husband divided their time between Spokane, where they had lived since 1950, and Florida.

“She was a many-faceted friend, totally delightful,” said Dorothy Powers, a close friend and former Spokesman-Review columnist. “She was a skier, a distinguished artist, a hostess and a supporter of all things cultural in Spokane.”

McCutcheon was born in Chicago in 1922 and graduated from Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., in 1944. She taught kindergarten for a year, married in 1945 and moved to Spokane in 1950 when her husband was hired at the newspaper. Shaw McCutcheon was the editorial cartoonist until he retired in 1986.

Nancy McCutcheon began painting with oils and acrylics as a creative outlet when her children were small. She later switched to watercolors because, as she told a reporter, “you can travel with it (and) it dries fast.” She studied at the Art Center in Spokane and took master classes from Kenneth Callahan and Fletcher Martin.

She found some of her inspiration close to home, including scenes of skiers, swimmers and dancing children. Other inspiration came from her many travels.

Local art critic Gladys E. Guilbert noted in 1963 that McCutcheon “paints the human form usually in groups of two or more, with great sensitivity for rhythmic pattern.”

“Sometimes a lovely flowing line first catches the eye, which, on closer scrutiny, reveals the contours of a couple of bathing-suited sun worshipers,” Guilbert wrote.

McCutcheon also experimented with more abstract styles. She had exhibitions in Spokane, Seattle, Portland, Missoula, Pullman and Nassau, Bahamas.

“For years, she was introduced as the wife of Shaw McCutcheon, editorial cartoonist,” said her daughter, Caren Furbeyre, of Spokane, also an artist. “Later we used to laugh because people would say, ‘Oh, are you the husband of the artist Nancy McCutcheon?’ ”

She served on the board of the Washington Children’s Home and the First American Bank in Chicago. She also was a supporter of St. George’s School since its inception.

She is survived by her daughter, a son, Shaw McCutcheon Jr. of Boca Raton, Fla., and four grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held in Spokane next summer. Memorial contributions can be made to St. George’s School of Spokane.