Amy Genevieve Chapman

1926 - 2015
Amy Genevieve Chapman - Painter, teacher and color theorist

Amy Genevieve Chapman of Weston, Massachusetts died on March 13, 2015. Amy was born on November 16, 1926 in New York City to May and Harry Myers.

Amy is survived by her husband of 60 years Allan Chapman of Weston, their three children, Elizabeth Chapman from Cumberland, ME, Margaret Chapman from New York, NY and William Chapman from New York, NY along with five grandchildren. She is also survived by her identical twin Carol Bird Ravenal of Washington DC and her older sister Dorothy Koppelman of New York, NY.

Amy received a BA from Brooklyn College and a BFA from Yale University. A teenager during the depression and war time, she graduated from Erasmus High in Brooklyn in1945 when "too many of my bright young friends were killed in the war". She was at Brooklyn College at a time when many professors reflected the views of European intellectuals who were then flooding American universities, Ad Reinhart among them. With easy and regular access to New York museums she spent hours familiarizing herself with the work and theories of artists and critics of Modern Art. At Yale she excelled in color theory as taught by the Bauhaus instructor, Josef Albers. Amy's work was included in Albers' 1963 book "Interaction of Color"- and again in the digitally interactive version published 50 years later.

In 1954 Amy moved to Cambridge to work with TAC, the firm of Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus. She worked closely with Gropius designing several large, abstract murals of colored tile and brick for school projects, all published internationally. Gropius wrote about Amy, "She is a talented designer. She has a subtle sense for color and material and is particularly gifted - what I have found rarely, to understand the relation of mural compositions within architectural spaces." She met her husband Allan, an architect in Gropius' office. They were married in 1954.

Amy taught at Wellesley College until 1962 when she received a grant from the Radcliffe Bunting Institute to paint. After two years at Radcliffe, Amy became the Director of the Wayland High School Art Department, a post she held for over fifteen years. The 2014 'Amy Chapman - On Painting and On Life' was produced by the Weston Media Center. It focuses on her representational work that displayed her long fascination with beauty in her everyday surroundings

Amy's second interest was genealogy. She brought to life generations of ancestors whose roots she traced to the Unitarian Church in Weston and towns around New England. She poured herself into every episode of her eighty-eight years with warmth, determination and focus. A dedicated mother to three architects she had an unending interest in her children and grandchildren's pursuits. Her entire family was influenced by her creativity, talent, and discerning encouragement. She will be deeply missed.

A memorial service will be held at the First Parish Unitarian Church of Weston, MA, Saturday, June 6th at 2pm.