Willett does not speak publicly about that time, except to say that he was friends with Joy Enright, who was a budding artist herself, and that she was instrumental in his conception of Souls on Board. With a portion of the Cusk award, he and his wife, abstract painter Samantha Rouen, have established an after-school art program in Joy’s name at an elementary school in their Brooklyn neighborhood.
Chuck Close, one of Willett’s artistic progenitors, describes his own process of painting large portraits as “incrementing”—he begins with the tiniest details, then adds tone and texture to create ever-larger fragments that eventually cohere in the finished piece. Each painting contains so many minuscule bits of information that if you move too close to the canvas, you can’t take it all in.
Willett has borrowed and built on this concept to create his own. Do yourself a favor and catch the exhibit while you can; approach it from different angles, adjust your distance, and allow yourself to linger. We’re all souls on board this flight, the artist reminds us. Nothing is too small to matter, and even when we think we have the whole picture, there is still more to see.
Acknowledgments
I’m grateful to my family and friends for their continued and sustaining support of my work, and to Emerson College for the generous leave to write this book. My deep appreciation for their specific contributions and counsel goes to Ondine Bréaud-Holland, Michael Dondiego, Katie Gergel, Molly Treadway Johnson, Elizabeth Kulhanek, Laurie Levenson, Megan Marshall, Yasmin Mathew, Maria Rosa Monsayac, Denise Neary, Lori Ostlund, Lauren Richman, Robert Sabal, Adam Schwartz, Ann Treadway, Michaele Whelan, Monika Woods, Maxine Yalovitz-Blankenship, the Peabody Essex Museum, and Sergeant Blake Gilmore of the Massachusetts State Police.
I know how extremely fortunate I am to have Kimberly Witherspoon as my agent and Deb Futter as my editor. I hope they know that I know.
Always and ever, for all and everything, thanks and love to my husband, Philip Holland, my Beau of Amherst, who reads me better than anyone.
About the Author
Jessica Treadway is the author of Lacy Eye and And Give You Peace, as well as two story collections, Absent Without Leave and Other Stories and Please Come Back to Me, which received the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. A former reporter for United Press International, she is a professor at Emerson College and lives with her husband outside Boston.
Also by Jessica Treadway
Lacy Eye
Please Come Back to Me
And Give You Peace
Absent Without Leave and Other Stories
How Will I Know You? Page 36