Hailed as the “Queen of Willy Street”, Mona Boulware Webb (1914 – 1998) was a painter, sculptor and a major contributor and influencer to the Madison art scene. A Houston, Texas native, Webb moved to Mexico City early in her career, and was inspired by a rich tradition of visual art that included pre-Columbian ceramics, folk carvings and textiles and the revolutionary murals of Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. In the early 1960s, Webb resettled in Madison, Wisconsin, and opened the Wayhouse of Light, named to suggest a shelter for pilgrims, at 1354 Williamson (“Willy”) Street. The building was more than a home and studio for Webb; it also served as a collaborative artists’ space and lively community cultural center for the next three decades. Mona’s paintings and sculptures will be on loan from Edgewood College Gallery.
