About

James Michael Chandler

Santa Fe-based artist Michael Chandler was born in Des Moines, Iowa.  Michael settled in New York City in the early 80’s and later lived in Garrison, New York, with a studio base in Vinalhaven, Maine until his move to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2018.

New York art critic Eleanor Heartney wrote, “Michael Chandler’s work is suffused with a fascination with the natural world … Chandler speaks of his art as ‘memory keys’ which may ‘open a doorway allowing thoughts buried by time and circumstances to be re-experienced.’ Indeed memory, especially the memory of nature, serves Chandler as an entry point into a privileged realm free of chaos and uncertainty which besets us in the ordinary world … His paintings continue to quietly insist that art should skew our notion of reality, and thereby conjure the inexplicable from the ordinary.”

Education
Graduate Studies, Illinois State University, Normal IL
B.A., Western Illinois University, Macomb IL

Solo Exhibitions
Bismark/Wilson Gallery, Baltimore MD, 2014, 2016, 2021
Bismark/Wilson Gallery, Baltimore MD, 2001, 2008
The Howland Center, Beacon NY, 1997
Smith Gallery House, San Francisco CA, 1997
Don’t Give Up the Day Job Gallery, Baltimore MD, 1995, 1998, 2000
Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota, Duluth MN, 1999-2000;  exhibition traveled to:
-Chesapeake Gallery, Harford Community College
-McLean County Arts Center, Bloomington IL
-University Gallery, Western Illinois University, Macomb IL
The Howland Center, Beacon NY, 1997
Smith Gallery House, San Francisco CA, 1997
Garrison Art Center, Garrison NY, 1991
Stephen Rosenberg Gallery, New York NY, 1989
Stephen Rosenberg Gallery, New York NY, 1987
Green Rose Gallery, Macomb IL, 1977
Keokuk Art Center, Keokuk IA, 1977
Iowa Wesleyan College, Mt. Pleasant IA, 1976
Wartburg College, Waverly IA, 1976

Select Group Exhibitions
Bismark/Wilson, Baltimore MD, 2017
New Era Gallery, Vinalhaven ME, 2013/14
The Marina Gallery, Cold Spring NY, 2013
Mad Dooley, Beacon NY, 2012
New Era Gallery, Vinalhaven ME, 2011
Marina Gallery, Coldspring NY, 2011
Marks from the Matrix, Normal Editions Workshop, Illinois State University, College of Fine Arts, Normal IL, 2007
Small Prints Show, Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, Chicago IL
Recent Acquisitions, Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth MN
Group Show, Walnut Street Gallery, Springfield IL
A View From Here: Heartland Landscape Painters, McLean County Arts Center, Bloomington IL
Watercolor USA 1992, Springfield Art Museum, Springfield MO
Ballard – Chandler – Nickson, Galerie Philippe de Hesdin, Paris FR
River Voices: Inspired by the Hudson River, Paramount Center for the Arts, Peekskill NY
New York – Santa Fe, Conlon Gallery, Santa Fe NM
Voyages of the Modern Imagination: The Best in Contemporary Art, Farnsworth Museum,
Rockland ME
Deep Woods: Concerning Nature in Recent Painting, Drawing and Sculpture, Tweed Museum of
Art, University of Minnesota, Duluth MN (exhibition traveled to eight US museums)
Chandler – Lieberman – Siedel, Stephen Rosenberg Gallery, New York NY
The Legacy of Surrealism in Contemporary Art, Ben Shahn Galleries, William Patterson
University, Wayne NJ
A Sign of Relief, Wilson Arts Center, The Harley School, Rochester NY
Crossovers: Sculptured Painting-Painted Sculpture, Gallery at Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, 1987
Landscape: A Point of View, G.H. Dalsheimer Gallery, Baltimore MD
Born in Iowa: The Homecoming, Iowa Arts Council, Des Moines IA (exhibition traveled)
Collectors Gallery, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio TX
Black, White and Gray, Stephen Rosenberg Gallery, New York NY
Paint, Paper and Wood, Stephen Rosenberg Gallery, New York NY
Three Sculptors, Wolff Gallery, New York NY
Object-Image-Idea: Vision in the Eighties, Burpee Art Museum, Rockford IL
Michael Chandler / Brian Eno Collaboration, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston MA, 1983
Newcastle Salutes New York, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Polytechnic Art Gallery, England
A Labyrinth, Public Illumination Gallery, New York NY
Art on the Pier, Navy Pier Expo, Chicago IL
Chandler / Davidson, Marianne Deson Gallery, Chicago IL
New Talent Show, Allan Stone Gallery, New York NY, 1979

Grants and Experience
Builder, acoustic guitars, 2016 – present
Owner & Builder, Donohue & Chandler, Garrison NY, construction of custom buildings, 1993-2017
Owner & Builder, Erhlich & Chandler, New York NY, loft design, renovation, and cabinetry, 1980-1992
Guest Artist, print collaboration & lecture, Normal Editions Workshop, Illinois State University, 1999
Visiting Artist, University of Minnesota, Duluth MN
Visiting Artist, lecture series, University of Minnesota, Duluth MN
Visiting Artist, Illinois State University, Bloomington-Normal IL
Visiting Artist, lecture series, Rockford Art Association, Rockford IL
Grant recipient, Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Taos NM