Louise Luckenbill grew up in Reading, PA. Her travel stories began early on. She studied music at Oberlin College, but earned a B.A. degree in Zoology because she was interested in the solving the puzzles that science posed. She went to graduate school to study animal embryology, first at Washington University, St. Louis, then at Brown University where she earned a Ph.D. in Biology.

As a graduate student, Louise connected with the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, taking the Invertebrate Zoology course.  After a series of post-doctoral research positions at Boston hospitals and eighteen months abroad in Utrecht, The Netherlands, she became Assistant Professor at Smith College.  From there, she went back to research in Boston for a brief period, then became Associate Professor of Zoology and Neural Systems at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine. During those years of research and teaching, Louise’s connection with MBL blossomed as she spent one summer doing an experiment in the lab and several summers doing library research.  She felt the urge to stay connected with Falmouth and Woods Hole and saw it as a place she could retire to “someday.”

Once retired from Ohio University, space limitations prevented Louise from continuing research, so she decided to explore other activities during retirement.  As a biologist, Louise mused that she might have the “genes” to create art.  Her father had told her how his grandmother entertained her grandchildren by drawing, a talent that emerged in some of her cousins who became commercial artists. She explored this idea by taking watercolors and art paper to a retreat in the northern Berkshires. Delighted by the outcome, she began reading books and taking workshops and classes to learn how to paint with watercolors.

In 2002, Louise received the Wes Lazott award for new artists at the Falmouth Art Center for her watercolor painting, “Wind,” and she has had entries accepted in juried shows at the Falmouth Art Center and the Cotuit Center for the Arts.

“With this mixed media exhibit, says Louise, “I aim to share part of my happy experience traveling on Amtrak from East to West and North to South in the United States, limited only by visits to relatives and friends, sights and tourist destinations.”

The Gallery at FCTV is located within the new Falmouth Community Media Center, which is at 310 Dillingham Ave., easily accessible by Rose Morin Lane. The new entrance is located on the opposite side of the old FCTV and Maser Gallery building.

Gallery Exhibit Hours: Sunday 12-8 pm; Monday, 2-10 pm; Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 10 -10 pm; Friday 10-6 pm; Saturday, Closed.