Local aviation artist to display artwork in National Museum of Commercial Aviation

Press release from Marc Y. Chenevert:

In an effort to preserve his lifetime artistic works, Marc Young Chenevert will be releasing his portfolio of aviation artworks to the National Museum of Commercial Aviation located in Atlanta Georgia. The Museum’s Chief Curator and Executive Director, Mr. Grant Wainscott, says he is delighted with Marc’s generous gift. The presentation of the works which will take place here in Asheville, is slated for August 27, 2013. Marc–a Photorealistic Artist, creates his works from memory and his own photographs to capture every detail. Marc’s art career has spanned fifty years with approximately seventy-five percent of his works being commercial aviation drawings. Other works include media in pencil, charcoal, pastel, and watercolor on a wide variety of subjects.
All of Marc’s aviation artwork is included in this gift to the Museum with the exception of his Braniff International Airways drawings (which he plans to donate to a group in Dallas, Texas). This group is currently working towards a Braniff International Museum that will be exclusive to historical Braniff memorabilia, art and artifacts, including artworks by the renowned Alexander Calder as well as those of Marc Y. Chenevert.
The Journey of Marc Y. Chenevert
Marc’s first airliner drawing was an American Airlines Boeing 727-100 which was pictured taking off from Runway 36 at Washington, DC’s National Airport. This rendering was done from a mental picture of a photograph on the July 1965 front page of The Washington Post headlined by “The Jets Come to Washington!”. Between 1971 and 1974, commercial airliners became the subject of nearly all of Marc’s drawings and the majority of these drawings are noted and pictured at or near Washington Nat’l Airport. In those three years it became commonplace for Marc to draw two and, sometimes, three airliners a day. While spending weekends at National Airport throughout 1971, he noted the characteristics and details of the many BAC 1-11, Boeing 727, 737, and DC-9 jetliners that were there and captured them in his
renderings. By 1974, he had mastered airliners’ perspectives and his drawings indicate all of the details of each aircraft drawing that he created.
Marc also authored a book entitled Aim High published in 2008. The book (which chronicles Marc’s life from 1971 to 1980), took five years to write and, for those who may be unaware of what it was like to be a gay member of the U.S. military, it is a good read. He served honorably in the United States Air Force as an Air Traffic Controller from December 1975 to July 1980 and the knowledge he gained from this career field proved invaluable in his airliner drawings. Marc, a self-taught artist, received no formal training until he became a Graphic Design Management student at Orlando, Florida’s Valencia Community College from 1994-95.
Marc’s passion and love for commercial airliner art and it’s preservation for future generations of aviation enthusiasts has led him to present this gift to the National Museum of Commercial Aviation without any hesitation. Marc says: “If my works can inspire future artists and lovers of aviation, then my life and efforts have been well spent.”