September 9, 2007 – October 5, 2007

for more about the opening

see: Dennis Haggerty retrospective : celebration

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If you're involved in the Arts and have lived in Chester County for any length of time, it's a good bet that you've heard of Dennis Haggerty. His retrospective included work spanning a 40-year-career, much of it borrowed from his longtime collectors.

Still, Dennis, who had his first one-man show at CCAA while in his 20s, is also among a handful of local artists who has made a name for himself by continually finding new patrons. His work has ranged from postage-stamp watercolors to oils the size of barn doors, but it's the collective image – people like to call them Western landscapes, despite his years of describing them as abstracts – that has given him a broad appeal. Simply put, his work is instantly recognizable.

Dennis tends to credit his popularity to the decades of exhibiting locally, in shows that are among the best-known on the East Coast. Over the years, in fact, his trademark, no-nonsense summary of his education – philosophy major at West Chester University, class of `69; a stint at the Academy of the Fine Arts – seems to have appeared on nearly every catalog of every annual art event, from the Yellow Springs Art Show to solo shows at West Chester's Sunset Hill Gallery.

Perhaps the best testament to Dennis' ubiquity, though, is his appearance in news stories that portray him as a kind of resident artist. Daily Local News columnist Michael P. Rellahan's recently noted that certain characters in West Chester, "make the borough as colorful and vibrant as a Dennis Haggerty watercolor. In fact, you can even see Haggerty himself, chugging his little red truck (Honk if you are Elvis bumper sticker included)...."

In Taos, New Mexico, where Dennis has spent summers since 1972, his career has largely been built on small gallery shows. In recent years, the University of New Mexico has advertised its Taos campus by describing the region's long artistic history: Dennis is included in a list of contemporary masters, along with early Taos painters of the 19th century.

Chester County Art Association's retrospective may be a time to assess an artist life's work at 60, but for those who know Dennis personally, it’s likely to be treated as another way to celebrate the gathering of old friends and the new.