MAYOR MANZI NAMES ANTHONY J. ROSS AS SEPTEMBER’S ARTIST OF THE MONTH
Life-Long Resident’s Work on Display in the Mayor’s Office

Mayor William M. Manzi has named Anthony J. Ross as September’s Artist of the Month. Tony is a life-long resident of Methuen and graduated from Methuen High in 1963. He is married to Carol Connolly Ross. Together they have 5 children and 15 grandchildren.

Tony credits the beginning of his career to Mr. Melia, his high school art teacher, and Mr. Winn his drafting teacher. In Tony’s last semester of his senior year at Methuen High, Mr. Winn and Mr. Melia sent him to a Massachusetts extension college course held at MIT in Cambridge. There he took a 3-credit course in Technical Illustration. Tony was the only high school student in class. Upon completion of the course the professor, Dorothy Ladd, took and interest in him and offered him a temporary position working at MIT for the summer after his graduation. He worked at MIT for four years after that summer. He continued his education and graduated with a certificate in Design & Illustration from FAS of Westport Conn.

After leaving MIT, Tony took a position as Chief of Graphic Design with Tufts New England Medical Center. During his stay at Tufts, he obtained a part time commission to design a logo for the then new “Salem Witch Museum” in Salem Massachusetts. The logo is still in use today.

Tony went into the computer industry as the manager of Graphic Design and Technical Illustration Dept. for NEC Information Systems and also worked for Polaroid Corp. He retired from the computer industry in 2002. He continues to be an avid painter and is a member of the Methuen-based Arts Institute Group of the Merrimack Valley.

Mayor Manzi stated, “Tony is one of the many talented artists working in our community. It is an honor to display the fine artwork of this life-long Methuen resident. I encourage people to come to my office and view his work.”

The Methuen Artist of the Month Program was created by Mayor Manzi three years ago in order to give members of the Methuen Arts Community a forum to display their work and to encourage participation in Methuen’s growing creative economy. Methuen artists interested in being considered for Artist of the Month should contact the Mayor’s Office.