Thierry Chatelain

Thierry ChatelainThierry Chatelain was born in Morocco in 1952, to a French colonial family living in Casablanca. At national independence the family returned to France, then moved to southern California, where the artist early displayed rare and luminous gifts. A remarkable instance of acknowledgment of talent and permission for a particular vision — made all the more remarkable because the present was not given as a literal road map: the higher realms beyond the four senses, and not the bizarre or eccentric — were always the inspiration for his work.

Chatelain has studied at the Ecole des Arts Decoratif in Paris; has shown at, among others, the Knowles Gallery in La Jolla, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Atlantia Gallery in Los Angeles, the Reid Gallery in Carmel. The artist also has work at both Disney and Universal studios.

Only the world of light and peace and truth enters into Chatelain’s painting. These higher forces are juxtaposed oftentimes with global native and vanished cultures and with the animal and floral kingdoms into an inclusionary celebration of the earth and her contents. Yet in spite of its exquisite realism, Chatelain’s painting offers us something more, a channel into the universal subconscious, of myth and pure imagination, and it is this inspiration which gives his subject matter its widespread appeal.

Indeed, the artist is well celebrated for his brilliant command of gouache and his mastery of color. In both he is arguably without peer; the technical precision of Chatelain’s brushwork is in every way matched by his unearthly powers as a colorist.

SELECTED BIOGRAPHICAL EVENTS
1974 — Work for various advertising agencies and begin to show my paintings at the San Diego Art Institute.1976 — First one-man show at Knowles Gallery in La Jolla, CA.1976–1990 — Eight one-man shows at Knowles. Published four gallery
posters at Knowles.1980 — Begin painting Native American subjects.1981 — One-man show at San Diego Museum of Art.

1984 — Show at San Diego Museum of Natural History, San Diego, CA.

1984 — Show at Maple Creek Gallery in San Diego, CA.

1984 — Show at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, TN.

1984 — Chosen to illustrate the 131st California State Fair poster
and promotion, and the San Diego Symphony Pops poster and  promotion.

1986 — Produce Mayan Stela Series, Limited Edition paper sculptures.

1987 — Serve as President of San Diego Artist’s Guild, and participated
in many Artist’s Guild shows.

1988 — Show at Atlantia Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.

1988 — Show at Reid Gallery, Carmel, CA.

1991 — Begin work with my friend Dan Dryden, Scenic Designer and Art Director with Universal Studios, Disney, and Sea World, as his illustrator on many projects. Featured in Magical Blend magazine, April 1991, Issue 30.

1992 — Help Dan install E.T. the Extraterrestrial attraction at Universal
Studios, Orlando, FL.

1992 — Visit Hawaii, big island, for the first of five trips through
1997. Swim with dolphins in the wild. Begin painting tropical and underwater subjects.

1992 — Leanin’ Tree Greetings begins to publish my paintings on
notecards, posters and other products for national distribution. By 1994
I have 22 designs in their catalog.

1993 — Meet Marilyn Youngbird, Sioux Medicine Woman, and begin four
years of study and sweat lodge ceremonies. Further integration of my art and spirit.

1993 — Meet Deane Hawley, music producer, and began friendship and
artistic collaborations.

1994 — Deane and I work on Mind, Body, Soul, and Walking
into the Future,
CD projects.

1995 — Visit Hawaii and the spiritual community of friends, writers,
and artists for the third time.

1995 — Meet Zannah, feature writer for Angel Times Magazine. My work is featured in Vol 1, Issue 4. Am now painting winged Native Americans and Angels. Zannah is introduced to Deane Hawley. We all begin collaborating on art, music and literature projects.1995 — October 28, my beloved mother and father pass away on the same day, eight hours apart. A profound spiritual experience of love, light and Angels ensues.

1996 — Angels are calling in my paintings. I am featured in the art
book, One Source, Sacred Journeys, by Gary Markowitz, showcasing
44 spiritual artists.

1996 — Trail West Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA.

1997 — New publishing company, Triangel Arts is formed and produces
five different Giclée Limited Edition Prints of Visions of Angels
Collection.

1997 — Triangel Arts is featured in the Angel Times Yellow Pages

1997 — Through the creative talents of Dean, Zannah, myself and several
others, our CD, Zannah’s Angelight, is released by Insight Music
with my Angels featured in the package.

1997 — Our INSIGHT group is interviewed by Martin Waterman and LifestyleSoftware Group for an upcoming documentary and CD-ROM on Angels.

1997 — Our INSIGHT group appears on the syndicated television program, Cynthia Brian’s Starstyle — Live Your Dreams.

1997 — Featured in the book Angels A to Z, by James R. Lewis
and Evelyn Dorothy Oliver.

1997 — One-man Show at Angels Haven, Lake Tahoe, CA.

1997 — One-man Show at Angels Among-Us Gallery, La Mesa, CA.

1998 — Our INSIGHT group begins lecture series at BORDERS Books.

1998 — Old friend Damon Hedgepeth, Gardening Editor of San Diego
Home and Garden Magazine
campaigns for me to do a horticultural series; he is inspired by the flowers exhibited in my artwork. My Les Fleurs series begins to blossom.

1999 — Join fellow artists John Abel, Ken Goldman, Stephanie Goldman, Analise Rigan and Andre Rushing to work on a series of 144 paintings for “East meets West” produced by Company Ninety-Eight.