Artist Profile: Charles Frizzell

Charles Frizzell was born in 1944 in western Kentucky. Not much is published about his past or personal life, including his exact hometown or any information on his parents. Likewise, no information on marriages or romances is mentioned anywhere, and the closest thing to friendships that was written about are the artists and people he was influenced by or worked with. He says his grandfather was a major source of inspiration, taking him to the train yards as a child to watch the engines. Many of his earliest works were of trains, and he drew them often as a child. Andrew Wyeth, Norman Rockwell, Maxfield Parrish, John Singer and several others influenced him heavily as an artist. He worked with Frank Howell, and he says that Howell was most certainly one of his heaviest influences. He stayed in western Kentucky for college, going to Murray State University and earning a BA in Fine Arts. After college, he suffered from a lack of endorsement as an artist. This put a damper of the start of his career. He found himself moving west in a search for work. He landed in Victor, Colorado. He described it as "an end-of-the-line" sort of place. Here, working at a frame shop, he slowly built a career. However, he started with very low popularity and had to continue moving west. He bought a cheap house surrounded by nature, which served as inspiration for him. Something he has mentioned but which is not terribly well known is that his house turned out to be inhabited by a "mostly benevolent" spirit. Eventually, his art became more well-liked, and now he has won many awards and several of his pieces are on permanent display. Frizzell does most of his work with acrylics, but he does sometimes work in other mediums. These include sketches on canvas, watercolor, pen and ink drawings, graphite sketches, and lithography which is an ancient form of printing, put in loose terms. His work is associated with the modern period of art. Some of it is considered realism work, but others delve more into the reals of the mystical. Several of his more popular works are "Merging Wisdom," "Thunder Dance," and "Oneness." One of my personal favorites is "Wings of a Dream." It depicts a gorgeous valley with a Native American girl sleeping under a tree in the forefront. A falcon flies over the valley, with winged girl flying below him. Another of my favorites is "Totem." A young Native American man peers at his reflection in the water, and finds a wolf staring back.

During Charles Frizzell's lifetime has included several important historical events. Some of the quite notable ones include 9/11, the assassination of JFK, and the Civil Rights movement. Railroad transportation was continuing to grow at this time, and a train yard was built in his town. This is notable because, as I mentioned, his grandfather took him to the train yards often to watch the trains go by. This was a heavy influence in his art, both as a child and in his early years as a professional. Another movement that was happening during his lifetime was a rise in environmental awareness. Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, and sparked in the world a greater awareness for the environment. This was important to his work, because nature was his main inspiration and the environment was the focus in many of his paintings. Great Sand dunes National Park was also created during his career. He painted it for a competition, and ended up winning. That painting is still on display in a permanent exhibit.