Rich McHugh

BY BRUCE A. COLLEY, DO

Our Spring issue features a most eclectic artist. Rich McHugh, a lifelong Chester Countian, remembers from an early age “seeing” the world with what he later recognized, with an artist eye. He recounts a most impressionable experience at age ten. While attending the 1964 World’s Fair in New York with his family Rich recalls his visit to Italy’s Pavilion which housed Michelangelo’s Pieta: the marble statue depicting Mary holding the dead body of Jesus. While not knowing anything about the Pieta or its sculptor, he felt what was akin to a magnetic field charging between the stature and himself. “I seemed to have intimations of a distant memory of watching the statue being carved.”

It was years later when Rich began to pursue art as a vocation that he understood the emotions he experienced as a child. It is well known that Michelangelo would see into the raw marble the finished sculpture even before carving it out of the stone. This is a common description by most artists describing their media. Rich also, as do most artists, “sees” the finished art while looking at the raw material whether wood, paint, clay, glass, stone, or other media. Rich recounts, “I remember thinking, looking at the Peita, this is impossible.” “Can I ever achieve this perfection in any of my endeavors?” These thoughts have haunted him in a pleasant way, to the present day. I also remember seeing the Peita at the World’s Fair at age 9. I knew I was going to see a statue, but like Rich I knew nothing about the sculpture or the sculptor. But when I saw it, a memory was burnt deeply in my mind; perhaps seeing it with the eyes of a budding physician. For a half minute or so I was convinced the statue was really, live people, painted white. The anatomy was too perfect to be otherwise.

Until 10th grade Rich assumed everyone’s brain worked like his. But when assigned a crafts class at Great Valley High School, his teacher recognized his considerable inborn talent and made him understand he sees the world with special eyes. “Mrs. Fordham opened the world of art to me.” Unfortunately, his remaining high school years found him less inspired by the classes offered.

Classic Built-in Cabinet continued on next page >

The Art of Chester County continued from page 17

After high school Rich began working as a carpenter. In a short time, however, his artistic talents were soon reasserted, leading him to open a shop as an artisan woodcrafter making custom furniture and cabinetry. A few years later Rich added photography to his repertoire. Then for a time he dedicated himself to music as a musician and songwriter, but soon Rich returned to his shop as a professional artisan woodcrafter and photographer as these are his forte. However, his most recent media is his invention and perfection of a process he calls NeoFresco Art. By using multiple layers of colored quicklime, he can create frescos of breathtaking beauty. I am taken by Rich’s ability to master a wide variety of art media. Moreover, the fact that he has never had formal training and is self-taught reveals the profound talent he possesses. Take a moment to enjoy and savor examples of the perfection he has brought to his art.

PHILADELPHIA IS READY TO OVERCOME GUN VIOLENCE, OUR GREAT