Chisman's death leaves a void

Time for retrospective that does justice to Denver artist's impact on community

Mary Voelz Chandler

Published September 5, 2008 at 3 p.m.

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When I began writing about art 15 years ago for the Rocky Mountain News, there was no question who I'd focus on first. It had to be Dale Chisman, whose work I had admired even before art became my work.

For one thing, this accomplished artist created abstract paintings and works on paper, art that pulled me in like a cat to cream. For another, Chisman had two important shows going on, one at what was then called the CU Art Galleries, the other at the (sadly) long-defunct Grant Gallery on Market Street in Denver.

It was 1993 and Denver's art scene was a lot different in terms of breadth and size. But the talent certainly was here. Chisman's return from New York in the mid-1980s helped energize the community, just as his Aug. 29 death diminished it.

Not just because people were sad, or because he was only 65, or because he had been in ill health. Chisman was still painting, and some of his new work was on view earlier this week at a packed memorial at MCA Denver.

That was so right: Chisman had helped found the city's contemporary art museum, back when it was two groups working toward the same goal. Later he served on the resulting museum's board, was honored by the museum at a tribute in 2005, and was one of the artists in the 2002 "5 Abstract." That superb exhibition opened a year after Cydney Payton took the job of executive director and chief curator at MCA.

Now it's time for someone - someone, as in MCA - to organize a retrospective. Payton had asked Chisman to create a new body of monumental paintings for a show next year, but he pulled out of the project for health reasons.

There would be so much to see.

After all, Chisman exhibited regularly, including a show of new work in May at Rule Gallery that demonstrated how well this veteran artist could invent new forms for his paintings, incorporate new colors, keep evolving, really, while continuing to make work that is instantly recognizable as his.

The artist reached into the past as well as into the future. Once you got to know him and his background, it became clear this was an artist who had done his homework. He had good teachers - after meeting David Hockney at CU he went to London to study - and he moved to New York to work and learn. Fifteen years later, Chisman came back to Denver and made the cultural community stronger while pursuing a strong career.

When I dug out my file on Chisman, I found the notes from that 1993 interview. "I was introduced to abstraction by Martha Epp," he said of his teacher at North High School. I remember that left me, way back then, thinking I needed to find out who Epp was.

That began on-the-job training to learn about Colorado art history. The span between the pioneering abstract painter Epp (1907-1995) and Chisman and the people he has taught (formally and otherwise) is not that long. And abstraction has been a strong force in Colorado; it's just taken a while for some people to acknowledge that.

I also found out - and this was a theme at the memorial - about the strong contingent of artists of which Chisman was a part, artists who came of age in the 1960s and who have had respected careers while building the community here.

A trip to the Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art can teach you about the state's art scene - too bad it didn't exist in 1993. That would have saved me time. And over the years, exhibitions linking past and present have given us a sense of how art made in Colorado has come to pass.

Payton presented one of the best in 1999: "Vanguard Art in Colorado 1940-1970," curated by Dr. John Woodward III. That show was at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in the same year Kathy Andrews unveiled "Colorado Abstraction: 1975-1999" at the Arvada Center.

I'm not suggesting a repeat of that type of historical sweep, or a survey course in Colorado art history (though it's good for everyone to learn about it).

But Chisman was a major character in this tale. His work still is, and will continue to be as long as people love beauty. He's gone, but not what he gave us.

Mary Voelz Chandler is the art and architecture critic. chandlerm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2677

Dale Chisman

* Born: Aug. 17, 1943, Denver

* Died: Aug. 29 in Denver, of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

* Education: Studied with abstract painter Martha Epp at North High School and with artist Mary Chenoweth in Colorado Springs; attended the Yale University Summer School of Art and Music and the Royal College of Art in London; earned Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Colorado

* Career: Exhibited widely; in numerous collections; former MCA Denver board member; recently retired from teaching at the Art Students League of Denver

* Memorial: Was held Wednesday at MCA Denver

* Donations: To MCA Denver, earmarked for The Dale Chisman Fund

* Information: 303-298-7554

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