Obituary of Mary Norrington Irwin

Mary Irwin, Topsham Painter and Writer, Dies at 88 Mary Norrington Irwin, 88, of Topsham, Maine, an award-winning painter of watercolor Maine landscapes and semi-abstract life drawing for more than 50 years, died on Tuesday, March 15 at 6:24 a.m. at Mid-Coast Hospital in Brunswick, after a long illness. A lifelong lover of art, nature, and children, Irwin lived the last 23 years of her life in Harpswell and Topsham on the coast of Maine, where she first began summering in 1958. Born to Professor William Andrew Irwin, a renowned biblical scholar and author, and Roberta McLaughlin Irwin, in Toronto, Ontario in 1922, Ms. Irwin moved to the United States as a child and was naturalized as a US citizen after World War II. Irwin graduated from the Lab School of the University of Chicago, and received her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Toronto Victoria College. She studied art at the University of Chicago, the Chicago Art Institute, and Carnegie-Mellon University. Returning to complete her graduate studies, Irwin received her Master of Arts in Painting in 1982, at the age of 60, and her Master of Fine Arts in 1983 from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Her thesis, Eros or Pure Form: Nudes Here and Now in Historical Context, included interviews with contemporary painters Philip Pearlstein and Tom Wesselman in their New York studios. She went on to teach art and art history at the Toledo Museum of Art, Bowling Green State University, Firelands College, and a wide range of other classes. She was honored with the Citation for Distinguished Teaching from the Dean of the Graduate College of Bowling Green. Irwin was an illustrator and Assistant Art Editor for World Book Encyclopedia and a variety of books and other publications. Irwin’s artwork was exhibited at the Toledo Museum of Art, and at galleries, juried exhibitions, and solo shows iat numerous sites in five states, including the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, Bath, Massachusetts, Manhattan, Long Island, Pittsburgh, and Ohio. Her hundreds of works hang in many public and private collections, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the US Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, and the Dana Corporation. Irwin was a published art critic in the Toledo Blade and Dialogue magazine, and also penned several as-yet-unpublished memoirs, including Perils on the Home Front, The Full Price, Fifth Child Boy, and On Our Own: Older Women After Marriage. Irwin was a lifelong supporter and activist for such causes as voting and civil rights and liberties, prison reform, fair housing, environment, peace, and progressive politics. Her activism was first profiled in a feature story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette nearly 50 years ago. Irwin was pre-deceased by her son, Paul Richard Coleman, formerly of Bangor, Searsport, Appleton, and Bartlett Island, and her daughter, Patty Ann Coleman of Winterport. Irwin is survived by her ex-spouse, John R. Coleman of Chester, Vermont; her three living children John Coleman of Moorestown, NJ, Nancy Coleman of Topsham, and Steve Coleman of Washington, DC; seven grandchildren, Annie and Alex Brett of Topsham, Maine, William Coleman of Berkeley, California, Anne Coleman of Westtown, Pennsylvania, Jennifer Coleman of Hartford, New York, Sarah Coleman of San Francisco, California, and Andrej Coleman of Washington, DC; daughters-in-law Ann Blumer of Winterport, Maine, Ami Goldstein of Hartford, New York, Susan Coleman of Moorestown, NJ, and Roza Oblak of Washington, DC.; and sisters Joan Walker of Barrie, Ontario, Canada, Ruth Wilson of Port Washington, New York, and Susan Smith of Tucson, Arizona. Ms. Irwin was active for many years in the Unitarian Church and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick, where a memorial service will be held on Sunday, April 3 at 2:00 p.m.