Roslyn Zinn

The dunes overlooking Wellfleet's shore, a terrain Roslyn Zinn revered during summer visits, glow in one of her paintings with a singular warmth, as if she perceived the landscape more deeply than any seasonal pilgrim.

"After years as a teacher and social worker, I turned seriously to painting, which throughout my life had sparked and enlivened my spirit. What I see in the world, so burdened and troubled, and yet beautiful in nature and in the human form, impels me to seek to create images that give the possibility of hope."

A glorious spray of tulips, the gentle curve of an unclothed hip, the deep smile lines etched around her husband's mouth — Ms. Zinn's brush found in each of her subjects a sense of serenity and promise. And those same qualities, present in her along with a radiant delight in life, impressed those she met during her long marriage to historian Howard Zinn as they walked arm in arm in marches protesting wars from Vietnam to Iraq.

"She was a passionate person, passionately committed to the causes of peace and justice, and she was anguished by what was happening in the world. At the same time, she was a very sunny, happy, warm person." — Howard Zinn

"The woman exuded love and openness. I felt it, but everyone who met her felt it. She was just an affirming person." — James Carroll, author and Boston Globe columnist