Rick's Place - About Myself

Hi, I'm Rick Wells and, as you can see, this website has really taken shape, thanks in large part to the tireless efforts of my good friend, Jeff Cooper, who has been doing all the design and construction work.

Let me tell you something about myself. I was born and raised on the prairies of Western Canada and was educated there, receiving my Master of Social Work degree from the University of Manitoba in 1959. However, I moved to Pittsburgh in 1963 and have become very rooted in this charming city.

I am a professor emeritus with the University of Pittsburgh and taught clinical methods at Pitt's School of Social Work for 27 years, retiring from active teaching at the beginning of 1994. During my social work career my special area of interest was brief or short-term psychotherapy and I wrote or co-edited four books in that area, as well as numerous journal articles and invited book chapters. I was also active in the private practice of marital and family therapy and have written and published extensively in that area as well.

In addition to my academic endeavours I have had life-long interests in both art and music. For example, I have been an artist for many years and Mendelsohn Gallery in Pittsburgh's Shadyside district has sold some of my watercolors. My current interest is in prints and collage/constructions using computer graphics and Java Jeff's Coffeehouse in Squirrel Hill has had several showings of these works. In June-August, 1997, I had a large exhibit of photographs, watercolors, prints and constructions at the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh.

Over the past fifteen years I have written words and music for more than 80 songs. Contact me for mp3s or CDs of my songs. Singers and others are welcome to perform any of these songs but please remember to credit me as the songwriter. I have also done many more extensive instrumental compositions on my computer/synthesizer based MIDI-system and may upload some of these works to the Internet at a later date.

Finally, a number of my photographs come from various trips I have taken in the USA and Canada, particularly in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions of both these countries. Although I have become an American citizen, and lived in the East for many years, there are certainly aspects of my songs, photographs, and art that express a longing for the blue skies and endless vistas of the west.

I have been divorced for a number of years and live happily alone with my two cats, Junior and Mallory. In 1994 I began attending the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh and, a year later, formally joined that faith. I find the humanistic, non-deistic principles of Unitarian Universalism highly compatible with my own beliefs, and the First Church's Folk Orchestra -- established by its minister, David Herndon -- has become perhaps my most important musical outlet. Several of my compositions have been performed by the Folk Orchestra and I find my role as one of the orchestra's rhythm guitarists quite enjoyable.

A great source of pride to me are my two adult children, Sarah and Paul, both of whom (along with being fine young people) are involved in vital and absorbing careers. Sarah, for example, has earned a Master of Social Work degree and combines a busy professional life as a social work therapist with active interests in travel, dance and writing. Two years ago she completed a 7-week, 13,00 mile motor-trip around the USA and Canada where she and her travel companions saw most every sight worth seeing in the land. More recently she co-wrote a book entitled Today I Will Nourish My Inner Martyr: Affirmations For Cynics (Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 1998). This pithy little volume has gone into a second printing and sold over twenty thousand copies. A second volume in the same vein -- Today I Will Indulge My Inner Glutton -- appeared in 1999 and emphasizes cynical health and beauty affirmations.

Paul, on the other hand, is living in New York City where he received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1998 from a college just outside that city and is beginning to become recognized as an up-and-coming young jazz and rock drummer. In addition to gigging around New York City, he has been on several jazz cruises into the Caribbean as drummer in a group backing jazz-legend vocalist Joe Williams, and has backed New York jazz singer Mark Murphy on a three-city eastern tour. From January to May of 2000 Paul played in a jazz trio on a round-the-world cruise on a luxury liner, visiting every continent except Antartica. He is now back in New York City, pursuing his musical career.

My e-mail address is included on my home page and I am most interested in hearing from anyone who has comments on my work or shares similar interests, or just wants to become acquainted.