Phoebe Fisher-Wolters

1933 - 2015

Phoebe Fisher-Wolters
August 14,1933 - May 8, 2015
St George Vermont
Life began on August 14th 1933. Phoebe Fisher-Wolter was born into an Italian Catholic family on Star Street in Brooklyn, NY. Christened Theresa Marie Pisciotta, she was the second of four daughters. She went by the name of Terry until her daughter was born.
The family moved from Brooklyn to Detroit in 1945, Phoebe's father Salvatore opened an ice cream franchise. She remembers working there. Her fondest memories of her childhood were spending summers with her sisters in Michigan at the Settlement House Camp. At camp Terry mixed freely with kids of many races and eventually became a counselor.
Phoebe attended Cass Technical a vocational High School, there she began to draw and paint. She left for New York City from Detroit at 19 with two friends. They settled into Hell's Kitchen. She attended the Art Student League and built on the fashion illustration skills she had developed in High School.
She began hanging out with the crowd of abstract expressionist artists who congregated at the Cedar Tavern. In 1956, she met Salvatore Friscia, a talented painter and partner she would spend the next 20 plus years together with several breaks.
The story goes that Terry went into labor at the artist's studio of John Chamberlain. She later gave birth to a daughter and wanted to call the baby Phoebe, but Sal didn't like the name so they agreed upon Nina. Eventually, Terry took the name Phoebe for herself. Phoebe Fisher became her professional name, deftly combining her family name Pisciotta (which is close to the Sicilian word for fisherman) and Friscia, her common-law husband's surname, all the while creating something uniquely her own. It is an aesthetic move that Phoebe would repeat later in her fine art where she would take the leftover and broken things of life and craft them anew into beautiful objects.
Phoebe was a successful freelance fashion artist working in the advertising industry in the New York area for many years. Her partner Sal was her agent for the years they lived together. In 1971 she learned to drive a car in Orange New Jersey. Soon after learning to drive, she and her teenage daughter Nina traveled north and across the country to British Columbia Canada. Unfortunately Canada didn't need any fashion artists, she was rejected for citizenship. Next she headed down to Northern California. She bought a house in the San Francisco Mission District. She then joined forces with a close friend to form a small advertising agency.
Later she moved to Santa Cruz CA where she finally gave up fashion art, and pursued her true love collage and found object pieces. Acute observation, quirky interpretation and a fascinating intelligence were manifested in her art works in all media. Phoebe was a master of collage and assemblage. She constructed wooden boxes full of broken dolls' heads and oddly shaped bits of debris. She collected detritus from the beach in Santa Cruz to use in her artwork. She made art pieces mysterious and redolent of Catholic religious imagery and frequently with a multitude of deities from Hindu and Chinese religions. Blood, eyeballs, extremities, and saints were also a common theme. Other paintings and assemblages were more abstract although Phoebe could always tell the story of how they were put together and what kind of narrative was hidden in the work.
At a point in her life, nearly destitute from the California Savings and Loan crisis she met Charles Wolters, a much loved high school art teacher and successful fine artist.
Charles invited Phoebe to share his life with him. He provided love and security. Among the many rituals the two shared; Phoebe hosted an annual birthday party for Charles only as long in minutes as his life was in years. Each year on Valentine's Day Charles presented Phoebe with a new painting with a heart for each of the years that they had been together.
With Charles's love and support this was a stable and productive time for Phoebe. She created most of her collages and assemblages during this time. She was a well known
member of the art community in Santa Cruz, actively showing her works in local galleries.
Eventually Phoebe and Charles would marry under sad conditions. In 2001 Charles was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. On September 11th 2001 the day the World Trade Center was attacked, would also be the day she added his name to hers, becoming Phoebe Fisher-Wolters.
Shortly after Charles's death Phoebe began to develop the symptoms of Parkinson's, the disease that would eventually be her demise. Phoebe had always been fascinated with death; She had flirted with the idea of dying her entire life. This fascination also reflected in her artwork. The following years after Charles's death she became depressed and actively talked about wanting to die. Still living in Santa Cruz in 2008 Phoebe suffered from a heart attack. Frightened to be found deceased by one of her friends, she called 911. Much to her chagrin the ambulance crew arrived too promptly and resuscitated her. They never checked the refrigerator door for the DNR order. While in rehab it was clear that Phoebe was no longer able to care for herself. Her daughter moved her to East Hampton, NY where she spent her last years watching her grandson Luke grow, continuing to make art and showing her work in a local gallery there. She also watched and listened to a variety of foreign crime dramas on DVD and audio books. This would be her most prominent activity until she moved to Hospice.
Two days before her birthday in August 2014 three generations Nina, Phoebe, and grandson Luke Valentine made one last move to St George VT (close to Burlington VT).
She lived in the large log cabin house for one long Vermont winter. In the spring tired and having little will to continue, she became ill with a respiratory infection. In a decision to stop her present condition and make a quality of life decision she asked to be put in hospice instead of taking a round of antibiotics. Phoebe passed on May 8th at the Williston Vermont Respite House at the age of 82. This unique and exceptional Hospice allowed Phoebe to quiet her mind and relax; she had the opportunity to make a gentle yet transformational exit. She had a green burial as requested. Her body resides in the St George Cemetery less then 10 minutes from where she lived.
Phoebe leaves behind her daughter, Nina Amadea Friscia, her grandson Luke Gerard Valentine, her three sisters, Loretta Meide, Susan Bruce and Josephine Duzzie and many loving and devoted friends.
A memorial Service will be offered to honor her on Thursday October 8, 2015 at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. 100 Schaffer Rd Santa Cruz 95060 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm.



View the online memorial for Phoebe  Fisher-Wolters