Patrick Wright, Wright Etching.
Native of Keene, New Hampshire, Patrick Wright appreciates art in all forms. As a young boy, Patrick attended St. Josephs elementary school, where his drawings were always at the top of the board. Continuing his education, throughout junior high and high school, he continued to thrive artistically. After High School, Patrick joined the US Navy, Seabees, as a construction mechanic. In the military, Patrick was commissioned to do many cards, drawings, letting and paintings. He also illustrated Beachmaster Unit 1's new training manual.
Patrick went on two separate six month oversea deployments, leaving art in over 16 different countries. While serving in San Diego, California, Patrick met his beautiful wife-to-be Kelly, and they were married 9 months later. Patrick was then stationed in Woodbridge, VA, and went to school for lithography, and then went to Honolulu, Hawaii for a short home station. In Hawaii, Patrick painted and left a wall mural on Ford Island in the Fleet Training Group. Patrick continued his art in Hawaii by learning to airbrush and paint over and underwater scenes from the ocean.
After serving 8 years in the Navy, from 1992-1998 Patrick was working as a pressman while pursuing his career in art. He wanted out of the production field.
In 1998 he had his big break! He was to etch on headstones using a hand held diamond tool. He started his work at Keene Monument and in his first year he had 12 different monument dealers he was etching for. In his second year he had most of the New Hampshire monument dealers and was working in Massachusetts and Vermont as well.
Currently Patrick works for more than 40 Monument dealers in the New England Area. While working for a dealer on Cape Cod, Patrick met the owners two friends who were writing a book called, “Solved, The Mystery of the General Arnold” and Patrick was asked to do the cover art work and a few illustrations inside the book. In 2009 the book was entered in to the library of Congress.
Patrick paints as a hobby and is self taught. He does 4-5 commissioned paintings a year and some day hopes to hand over his business to his talented son Daniel, who has also been etching with his father since 2010. Ideally, Patrick would like to peruse his dream of painting full time.
Most people, perhaps unfortunately, don’t get the opportunity to make their mark on the world.
Patrick Wright is not among them. In fact, what the Keene man does for a living is exactly that — leaving beautiful, artistic etchings on stone that will last for centuries, if not longer.
And in what galleries are his works displayed? You’ll see them among the rows of tombstones in our local graveyards — Monadnock View, Woodland, West, St. Joseph’s, Greenlawn — and in hundreds of other cemeteries throughout New England. In all, he’s etched his works on more than 8,000 gravestones in New England in the 20 years since he started Wright Etching, Inc.