Rebecca Norris Webb (b. 1956) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, and Wellfleet, Massachusetts on Cape Cod (USA).

– Home & Studio — together or apart?

Both. My writing room is in our mid-century modern house, and my photography studio is nearby. I share the studio with photographer Alex Webb, my husband and creative partner, and it was formerly the sculpture studio of Nancy Webb, Alex’s mother.

– Do you have any daily rituals?

First thing each morning, I read poetry and write. I find this hour or two of drifting from sleeping and dreaming into poetry is often my most creative time of the day.

– What is the first art book you remember?

The Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson. Her poetry —including her “certain slant of light”— taught me how to see in a landscape that calls to you. Whether writing or photographing, I try to follow her directive: “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant.”

– What is your studio/creative soundtrack?

Silence with its ever-shifting notes of birdsong, wind, and falling rain.

– Did you always want to be an artist?

I think I was about seven when I first considered becoming an artist like my Uncle Lou. He and Marian, his first wife, were both painters. Uncle Lou’s beautifully dark and moody oil painting of the family’s farm—where he lived with my mother, their three brothers, and their parents—still graces Mom and Dad’s South Dakota home, which is about an hour’s drive from the Badlands.

– What does a free day look like?

Well, the Western version focuses on birdwatching in the South Dakota Badlands. The Eastern version involves birding at the Wellfleet Bay Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary, and, if the wind is right, sailing with Alex up Blackfish Creek.

– What’s your favorite thing in your studio?

The eighteen windows in my writing room—which look out on Wellfleet Harbor— in particular, the reflections they carry at different times of the day.

books & objects