Chaz Guest is an American painter and sculptor who is profoundly inventive and captures the raw essence of the human spirit. Blessed with the gift of realizing his richly textured visions and tapping into their vibrant essence, Guest leaves those who encounter his works moved in powerfully personal ways. Born in Niagara Falls, New York, he earned a degree and studied graphic design at Southern Connecticut State University, then studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. The city became his muse, nurturing boldness and improvisation within his spirit. He then moved to Paris, France, where he worked for the haute couture magazine, Joyce.
Guest has exhibited in many prestigious galleries in Europe, Latin America, Asia and the United States, and his work is found in many spaces of distinction. Barack Obama has two of his works: one of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and a portrait of himself. Oprah Winfrey owns a Guest painting of Maya Angelou as a little girl, Poised with a Pencil, as well as the work Industrial Revolution Classroom from the Cotton Series. This series of work grew from Guest’s personal connection to a plantation in Georgia owned by his great-grandparents. Using cotton picked from the grounds of the plantation as his inspiration, he created the Cotton Series. Guest says of this work: “I needed the world to understand that those men, women, and children were not slaves. They were enslaved people. I painted the dignity that lived inside them.”
Beyond his acclaimed solo exhibits, Chaz Guest’s soul is reflected in his philanthropy and lives and breathes deepest in his work with children. In 2011, he was the Goodwill Ambassador to the Republic of Gambia where his goal was to instill in its citizens an unshakable sense of pride in their culture. Guest reflects: "I want children all over the world to paint themselves – a kid from the ghetto connecting with a kid from Gambia swapping portraits. When you can depict yourself through art, you grow up with an amazing found respect for yourself and humanity."
"The greatest thing that people get from my paintings is seeing themselves within them, no matter who you are," Guest concludes. "By the time I leave this earth, I want to see people moving closer together."
Well-known “Musers” who have spoken at the Tennessee Arts Academy in the past include Broadway composers Charles Strouse (Annie), Marvin Hamlisch (A Chorus Line), Andrew Lippa (The Addams Family) and Henry Krieger (Dreamgirls); concert pianist Lorin Hollander; lyricists Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof), Dean Pitchford (Fame), and Joe DiPietro (Memphis); Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim; costume designer Patricia Zipprodt (My Fair Lady); authors Wilma Dykeman and Will D. Campbell; theatre critic John Simon; conductors Michael Stern, Isaiah Jackson, Luke Frazier, Giancarlo Guerrero, Anton Armstrong, and Robert Bernhardt; author and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds (The Dot); educator Graham Down; Emmy and Tony award-winning actress Cherry Jones; Shakespearean directors Adrian Hall and Tina Packer; Hollywood composers Richard Sherman (Mary Poppins) and George S. Clinton (Austin Powers); visual artists Audrey Flack, Derek Fordjour, Dorothy Gillespie, Jon Moody, Beverly McIver, Nikkolas Smith, Charles Brindley, Dolph Smith, Alan Lequire, Harold Gregor, and Sylvia Hyman; Broadway directors Scott Ellis (1776), Jeff Calhoun (Newsies), and Richard Maltby, Jr. (Fosse); opera stars Mignon Dunn, Harolyn Blackwell, and Christine Brewer; New Yorker cartoonist Robert Mankoff; musical book writer Rick Elice (The Cher Show); poet Nikki Giovanni; Tony award-winning playwright Christopher Durang (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike); bandleader and musician Doc Severinsen (The Tonight Show); classical composers Libby Larsen, Jennifer Higdon, and Gabriela Lena Frank; scenic and costume designer Tony Walton; writer, musician, composer, and lyricist David Yazbek; stage combat director David Leong (Carousel); filmmaker Jay Russell (My Dog Skip); three-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown (The Bridges of Madison County); Broadway musical theatre stars Joshua Henry (Hamilton), Kate Baldwin (Hello, Dolly!); Bryce Pinkham (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), Stephanie J. Block (Wicked) Marin Mazzie (Ragtime), Jason Danieley (The Full Monty), Rebecca Luker, (The Secret Garden), Alton Fitzgerald White (The Lion King), Laura Osnes (Cinderella), and Aaron Lazar (The Light in the Piazza); television writer and producer Marc Cherry (Golden Girls, Desperate Housewives); author, composer, and lyricist Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) and many others.
