WGXC-90.7 FM
Purcell Palmer, founder of Catwalk Institute, dies
Andrea Macko reports in Porcupine Soup that Purcell Scheu Palmer, founder of the Catwalk Institute, died on January 12 at her home in Catskill following a long illness. She was 84, and founded the residency program with her basketball playing husband James Palmer at their Catskill estate overlooking the Hudson River in 2004. Over 700 painters, sculptors, poets, writers, musicians, and filmmakers used the facility over the years. Palmer was a board member of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill and Close Encounters With Music in Great Barrington, and a founding member of the Scholars Ball at Columbia-Greene Community College. She volunteered on the Advisory Board of the Rhyerson and Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago and with the Chicago Architecture Foundation. There will be a private memorial service for Palmer in early June. Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.