David Reese

REESE, DAVID, passed away on June 21, 2002, at his home in Maitland, of Parkinson's disease. He was 86. Reese will be remembered as a painter, teacher and past Director of the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Savanna, GA (1954 - 1964) and of the Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, FL (now the Orlando Museum of Art.) (1964 - 1977) While at Loch Haven, he was instrumental in its growth from a small community art center into a major Florida museum. Under his directorship Loch Haven was honored as one of the first two Museums in the Southeast to be accredited by the American Association of Museums. Reese made it his mission as an art educator to de-mystify the appreciation of art, to make it accessible to the broader community, and to encourage the awareness of the ways art influences daily life. Reese graduated from the High Museum School of Art (now the Atlanta College of Art). He studied at the Art Students League, in New York City and at Florida State University. He received scholastic grants from the McDowell Colony, Peterboro, NH, and the Carnegie Foundation. He taught at the Atlanta Art Institute, the New York Fashion Academy, and at Crealde Art School, in Winter Park, FL. David led many workshops, both locally and abroad. Exhibitions of his work are numerous and included one- man shows at Cummer Gallery of Art, Jacksonville, FL, Brevard Art Center and Museum, Melbourne, FL and many others. His work is included in the collections of the City of Orlando (at City Hall), the Federal Reserve Bank, Jacksonville, FL, Walt Disney World and the University of Central Florida, as well as in many other public and private collections. David was born in Newnan, GA, in 1915. He was a "farm boy who always wanted to be an artist." His love of nature, so evident in his paintings, grew from early days spent with his brother, on the family farm, hunting, fishing and exploring the woods. Reese served in the United States Air Force from 1942 through 1945. In 1947 he married Jean Boyd, with whom he shared a passion for art and nature, and a loving devotion to their three daughters. They divorced in 1976. David traveled widely throughout Europe, Asia, and North and South America. He took thousands of photographs of native flora, in botanical gardens and in the wild, which provided inspiration for many of his paintings. In 1985 David married Claire Hillman Baker, an accomplished artist and teacher in her own right. They often exhibited their work together, and traveled extensively and with great pleasure in the years before David's Parkinson's disease made travel impossible. He is survived by his wife, Claire, daughters Karen Tunnell (Bill), of, Atlanta, GA, Valerie Reese, of Martha's Vineyard, MA and Leslie Brown (Sandy), of Boulder, CO; grandchildren; Dylan and Leila Tunnell, Alexander and Georgia Brown and Elizabeth Vogeley; stepchildren Barbara Pierson (Jimm), Patty Jeffery (Rick), Janis Williams (David), Wayne Baker (Debbie) and Scott Baker (Peggy), all of Orlando; and step grandchildren Kyle and Austin Williams, Logan and MacKenzie Baker, Caleb and Natalie Baker and Skylar Jeffery. A memorial service for family members will be held at Leu Gardens. Friends will be welcomed at Claire and David's Maitland home on June 29, from 3-5PM to celebrate David's life. In lieu of flowers, please consider contributing to the Parkinson's Foundation Inc. or to Hospice of the Comforter.