|
|
About Chase
 Chase Saunders is a Charlotte native and fifth generation
North Carolinian. Married 35 years, he has two children, and a
granddaughter. Chase attended
Eastover Elementary, Alexander Graham Middle School, Myers Park High
School, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Central
Piedmont Community College , and Queens University. His father,
grandmother, great grandfather, and other members of his family were
all drawn to the creation of art or craft. His great grandfather
made furniture and farm tools. His grandmother taught art at Elon
University in the 1890s and painted oils for the new tobacco rich in
Durham during the Depression. His father was a designer, sculptor,
painter and general master craftsman. Chase's wife,
Carolyn, has
taught art to thousands of Charlotte's children in her Cotswold
studio for over thirty years. A retired Superior Court Judge, Chase
also served as a District Court Judge and Assistant District
Attorney. He now practices law and is a volunteer in a number of
professional, historical, business, civic and charitable activities.
He paints in his spare time.
Inspiration
Chase grew up in a home where unique art projects were always in the
works. Daily life featured creative activities like wood carving,
painting, furniture construction, design, leatherwork, sculpting,
cartooning, plaster and bronze casting, metal work, toy and tool
making, bonsai, and sketching. Pencils, sketchbooks, saws, carving
knives, tracing paper, blocks of clay, paints, hammers, and nails
were always available… but there were no golf clubs!
His love of Charlotte and Carolinas grew out of a multitude of life
experiences. They include carrying The Charlotte News as a paperboy,
attending Junior Achievement at the corner of Morehead and South
Tryon, learning to swim in the downtown YMCA on South Tryon Street,
eating Tanner's incomparable hamburgers washed down with
fresh-squeezed orange juice, seeing the circus in the first coliseum
on Independence Boulevard, ten cent bus rides, attending political
events with his father, shooting at the Long Creek Gun Club with his
mother, selling dictionaries door-to-door, steeple chases, running a
television camera in Chapel Hill, "busting tables" at the Carolina
Inn, sailing at Camp Seagull, roaming the Carolina coasts,
cartooning, prosecuting, and judging in three Mecklenburg County
Courthouses, standing in line seeking votes at the Mallard Creek
barbecue, amateur performing on stage at Spirit Square, and circuit
riding the Superior Courts of Western North Carolina. While circuit
riding he tried a lot of cases, made a lot of good friends, and
gained a further appreciation of the people and places worth
painting throughout the Carolinas. After court, in the evening, he
worked on his watercolors in a number of less than memorable motel
rooms.
Painting Style
A historian by passion, in 1972 Chase picked up a watercolor
paintbrush and began painting the changing face of the two
Carolinas. More than eighty paintings with this theme adorn the
gallery halls of his home. Many of the places he documented over the
past thirty-seven years are gone so his style could be best be
described by the Ecclesiastical verse…"to everything, there is a
time." He now wants to make this collection available to you. Using
the most current print reproduction technologies he can now offer
his artwork for your enjoyment.
His style usually features great amount of detail and white space
intended to capture only the essentials of a passing glimpse. These
works are finished in a matter of hours. Sometimes, however, the
subject matter requires a more detailed presentation. These works
take hundreds of hours to complete. The compelling subjects in the
UPTOWN FROM series CHARLOTTE Art are just such an example.
A signature feature of recent pieces is the red dog. Some years ago,
in protest to seeing art work with the predictable aerial scribbles
representing birds in flight, he decided to place a red hound dog in
his paintings. Over time the red dog has become well-traveled
throughout the Carolinas. As life sometimes imitates art, Chase
finally happened upon the red dog outside of a country store at the
Waccawatchee Marina on the Waccamaw River near Murrells Inlet, South
Carolina. He almost didn't believe his eyes when he saw the red dog
, all tuckered out, sleeping on a hot summer day. Look for the red
dog in this painting. If you have trouble finding him, a hint
appears on the next page of the print cover.
Each piece tells a story. With each reproduction a story of the
significance of the piece and its context will be told within the
protective cover. When you frame your gicl'ee be sure to mount the
cover story on the back of the print where it can be appreciated.
The Artist's Collection
Chase's personal collection was created from scenes he first
captured with photographs. During his travels in the Carolinas,
Chase took lots of photographs and when comfortable with both the
composition and color, he would then make a sketch and then put the
color to the paper. Sometimes it took years before he reached the
point when he could begin to sketch and paint a particular scene.
His body of work covers a wide range of Carolinas subject matter. It
features ice cream and firework stands, working boat docks,
courthouses and courthouse characters, churches and graveyards, road
side produce stands, lighthouses, mills, flea market vendors,
landscapes, still life, pumpkin stands, garden shops, country
stores, coastal architecture, and shrimp boats. From the mountains,
through the Piedmont, across the Coastal Plain, to the sounds and
beaches, his work seeks to capture the feel of this special place
which we call home. |
|
|
|
