Virgil Grotfeldt

Acclaimed Houston artist, VIRGIL GROTFELDT died on Monday, February 23, at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Born in Decatur, Illinois on May 17, 1948, to William Grotfeldt and Fern Andrews Grotfeldt, Virgil met and married his high school sweetheart, Deborah, in 1971. They moved to Houston in 1977 with their baby daughter, Jessica. Their son, Andrew, was born in 1979, the only "true" Texan in the family, but the rest of them, as Virgil was often heard to proclaim, got here as quickly as they could. Grotfeldt exhibited artistic promise at an early age and was mentored by middle and high school teachers who recommended him for an art scholarship to Eastern Illinois University. He graduated from EIU with a degree in arts education in 1971 and went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 1974. Credentials in hand, he set about establishing himself as an artist on the east coast and in Chicago, but found exhibition opportunities scarce. Grotfeldt had read about the developing art scene in Houston, so in 1977 the family traded their Fiat for an old Ford pick-up built-out with cattle rails, loaded everything they owned in the back, waved good-bye to the rust belt and headed for Houston to check out the art scene, make some money, and generally move forward. They were immediately captured by the kindness, hospitality, and can-do attitude of the city of Houston. Virgil first connected with Max Pruneda and Michael Peranteau, who were running an alternative space on Almeda Road called the Center for Art and Performance. He met Charles Gallagher, who with a small group of artists, was renovating an old building at 214 Travis Street to develop DiverseWorks Artspace. At the same time, James Surls had started the Lawndale Art and Performance Center at the University of Houston, where some of Houston's best known artists were graduate students at the time. Virgil contributed his share of sweat equity to sheetrock and paint, skills he had developed in his day job at Virgil Grotfeldt Painting (where he employed numerous Houston artists over the company's twenty years in the house painting business.) This coterie of working artists came together over common interests and developed a close-knit community that never failed to support each other fiercely. During Virgil's first bout with lymphoma in 1991, Houston artists held a studio-raising party to build out a new work space for him; they supported Virgil through his illness with gifts of artwork, long visits, hot soup, studio improvements, and enormously good cheer. Chief among this large group are his great friends Butch Jack, Waldo Bien, Walter Hopps and Caroline Huber, Marci and Sam Harnden, Terrell James and Cameron Armstrong, Tim and Mary Glover, Paul Kittelson and Carter Ernst, Ed Wilson, Gus and Sharon Kopriva, Lucas and Patty Johnson, and Weihong. In 1993, after nearly two years of treatment at MD Anderson, Grotfeldt went into remission, but his day business, Virgil Grotfeldt Painting, had largely gone dormant. With a grant from the Pollock Krasner Foundation, he moved to New York City and eventually settled into a studio in Brooklyn. He made new work, traveled and exhibited widely, but he missed his friends in Houston and returned home where he began teaching art at Houston Baptist University in 2002. An exhibition featuring his most recent work, Virgil Grotfeldt: 274296, was to close Friday February 27th at the UAC Gallery on the campus of Houston Baptist University. It will travel to the Art Museum of South Texas in April of 2009. Organized by Jim Edwards of Houston Baptist University, this unique exhibit of 16 paintings on x-ray film is a testament to the human spirit. The number 274296 in the exhibition title represents the patient number assigned to Grotfeldt by Houston's M.D. Anderson Hospital during his first treatment for lymphatic illness in 1991. The white, swirling abstract forms in these works, painted over the inky blackness of the x-rays, are in keeping with the nature of organic abstraction at its most refined. They also are a testament to Grotfeldt's courage in artistically addressing his own mortality. Grotfeldt loved inspiring creativity in his students and sharing all that he knew, sometimes more than once. At HBU he was embraced by faculty, administration, and students, all of whom supported him through his final days. He continued to teach through mid-February. The family extends its deepest gratitude to all at HBU, and especially to President, Dr. Robert B. Sloan Jr., Michael Collins, Sheila Swift, and Jim Edwards, who curated the beautiful exhibit Virgil Grotfeldt: 274296 at HBU's University Art Center where 500 close friends celebrated its opening with Virgil on January 15. Grotfeldt's work is included in many private and public collections, including The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York; NOG Insurance Company, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Free International University World Art Collection, Zeist, The Netherlands; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; Dallas Museum of Art; El Paso Museum of Art; Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas; and Upriver Gallery Collection, Chengdu, China. He is represented by Wade Wilson in Houston; Holly Johnson in Dallas; Jason McCoy in New York; and Lew Allen in Santa Fe. Virgil Grotfeldt is survived by his daughter, Jessica, who has been inspired to study acupuncture through the experience of lovingly caring for her dad in his final illness; by his son, William Andrew, who follows in his father's footsteps as an artist in his own right; by his former wife, Deborah, who enjoyed his company from age 14 until his final day; by his special niece, Terri Eskew, and his nephew Logie Talley, who took care of him in his last months; by his siblings, Karen Hernandez, Barbara Grotfeldt-Hill, and Larry Gillette, and their children; and by his faithful dogs Mick and Bianca, who wait at the top of the stairs. A memorial services is scheduled for Monday, March 2, at 10:00 am in the Belin Chapel at Houston Baptist University; a reception will follow at UAC Art Gallery where the exhibition Virgil Grotfeldt: 274296 will be on view. A second reception will be held on Sunday, March 8, at 2 pm at Grotfeldt's studio. For information and directions, contact Wade Wilson Art at 713-521-2977. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Office of Advancement, UAC Gallery Donations, Houston Baptist University, 7502 Fondren Road, Houston Texas, 77074; or to MD Anderson Cancer Center Integrative Medicine, Houston Texas, 77210.