Folk artist Stephen Huneck, whose whimsical paintings, sculptures and woodcut prints of dogs celebrated his love of animals and won him a worldwide fan base, has died. He was 60.
Huneck, of St Johnsbury, committed suicide on January 7 in Littleton, N.H. His wife said he was despondent after being forced to lay off employees at his Dog Mountain studio and dog chapel.
“Like many Americans, we had been adversely affected by the economic downturn,” Gwen Huneck wrote in a letter that week announcing his death. “Stephen feared losing Dog Mountain and our home. Then on Tuesday we had to lay off most of our employees. This hurt Stephen deeply. He cared about them and felt responsible for their welfare.”
Two days later, he shot himself in the head while sitting in a parked car outside the office of his psychiatrist, she said.
“He was one of the most creative and active members of the Vermont crafts community,” said Jennifer Boyer, co-owner of the Artisans Hand craft gallery in Montpelier. “I appreciate how much energy he put into his works, which were whimsical and sardonically funny. He really had a unique sense of humor.”
A native of Sudbury, Mass., Huneck started out whittling wooden sculptures and later dog-themed furniture, such as the wooden pews eventually installed in the chapel. He built the chapel in 2000, and it stood as a miniature version of the Nineteenth Century churches that dot Vermont’s landscape.
Built of wood harvested from his 175-acre Dog Mountain property, the chapel had vaulted ceilings and stained-glass windows with images of dogs pieced into them.
“Welcome all creeds, all breeds. No dogmas allowed,” reads the sign outside.
“When dogs pull up in here, they may never have been here before, but it’s like they saw the Disneyland sign,” Huneck said in a 2008 interview with the Associated Press. “They just get so excited, so happy.”
Dog lovers would make the trip to Vermont just to see the chapel, many writing notes to their long-gone pets and affixing them to the interior walls, where they remained.
Huneck’s love for canines was genuine. He advocated for dog-friendly lodging, hoped water dishes would become a fixture at parks and highway rest stops, and wished dogs would be allowed to dine with their owners in restaurants.
“Really, my agenda is to make Vermont the France of America, as far as the way we relate to our dogs,” Huneck told The Burlington Free Press in 2006. “I think it would be wonderful if people could bring their dogs into restaurants. … Every time I eat at a restaurant I feel really guilty because I know those scraps would make a friend of mine really happy.”
Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., was among Huneck’s patrons and friends.
“Stephen and Gwen Huneck have long been two of Vermont’s most talented citizens,” Leahy said in a prepared statement. “Stephen’s unique art has brought years of pleasure to the Leahy family, as it has to thousands of people around the world. Stephen was a friend whose work I have displayed in my offices in Washington and Vermont, and in our home. People always enjoy seeing his distinctive work, and few can resist commenting on it.”
Huneck’s books, about his beloved Labrador retrievers †including Sally Goes to the Beach, Sally Goes to the Farm and Sally Gets a Job †featured woodcut prints accompanied by quirky captions.
“They were totally unique, very insightful, particularly for dog lovers,” said Irwin Gelber, executive director of the St Johnsbury Athenaeum, a library and art center where Huneck frequently gave readings. “He seemed to create works and captions that just captured, that expressed every dog lover’s insights into owning and loving animals.”
