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She was 12 years old and had been diagnosed with heart disease. A native of North Carolina, Winnie had also lived in Pennsylvania
as well as Massachusetts, although she did not drive the moving van on any of those occasions.
Winnie was always a high-strung and sensitive cat, becoming wide-eyed with nervousness when something scary happened
(as in the doorbell ringing), but also fluent in a rapturous purr when she was contented, which was often. In fact she purred
on the day she died.
As a visual artist, Winnie specialized in fiber arts, with two completed works standing as a testimony to the breadth
of her imagination. "Office Chair" (1999-2000) transforms the normal upholstery fabric of a conventional chair
into a vibrant symphony of swaying, tangled threads. Their spontaneous energy parts to reveal glimpses of the underlying
foam and wood structures; a broad expanse of texturally altered fabric (snagged or nubby, with thinning or worn yarn) provides
a context for the rich swaths of loose threads. In "Box Spring" (2000-01) Winnie further explored the concept of
revealing unexpected layers, as cloth and foam are pulled back to expose the details of claw-embossed pine. "Office
Chair" and "Box Spring are part of the permanent installation at Winnie's Somerville studio.
Winnie also had a life-long devotion to minimalist performance art, employing bodily fluids as her preferred medium and
often engaging unsuspecting bystanders as participants in the artistic product, as they were drawn into the aleatoric practice
of distributing the fluids which they had unwittingly stepped in around the display area. Supportive of this performance
art was her devotion to water, and her determination to lead humans to turn on the tub faucet so she could drink from it.
In her skill at training humans to do this task she displayed a remarkable ability at behavior modification.
A tortoise-shell calico, she had a beautiful fluffy white tummy, ample furry cleavage, and delicate pink and back toes.
Winnie is survived by her tabby siblings (and artistic collaborators), Pam and Bertie, her first adoptive mother, Laura Macy,
and her second adoptive mother, Liane Curtis. We remember her, thankful for all the joy that she brought to our lives.
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