William Vaino Perry was born in coastal Pori, Finland in 1882. Young Vaino was employed in the Pori shipyards as an ironworker. Tall picturesque sailing ships from all over the world inspired him with visions and dreams.

In 1902 he immigrated to Superior, Wisconsin. Soon thereafter Vaino Americanized his name and learned English. He became known as William Perry. He labored as a lumberjack in Minnesota One day he was walking and was drawn to an artist's storefront painting demonstrating. He was fascinated. That encounter prompted him to become a painter; he created pictures for the next half century.

The Perry family moved to Fairport Harbor, Ohio in 1925. At that time Fairport's ethnic population was about half Finnish. William secured a position with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as a car repairman. He also found pleasure portraying the local village landscape. He sketched those images onto canvases on location and completed them in his living room. William's genre scenes describe recognizable Fairport landmarks. William Perry observed and painted the life cycle of a small town. Perry's works can be easily identified by his stylized vegetation, water and sky. He was aware of continually changing cloud formations and their vibrant coloration over the lake. As a result, paintings not only describe specific places; but like the Impressionists, they capture fleeting moments in time. Perry — Virtual Gallery