Monday, April 18, 2022
Dennis and I came to the UNC Art Department in the same year —- 1968, when I was hired as Assistant Slide Curator, but, because the painting studios were elsewhere on campus rather than in the Ackland building, I didn’t get acquainted with him until we all moved into the new Hanes Art Center in 1980, by which time I had moved up to become Slide Curator.
From then until I retired in 2000, Dennis came often to the slide room , and often stopped by the office to chat — usually about art. We discovered that we shared the same birthday —- January 31 –– we were fellow Aquarians, so we had similar sensibilities. Even though I hadn’t seen him in years, it saddens me to realize he’s gone.
But I do have something wonderful by which to remember him. In 1994, my husband, David Beaudin, and I bought two of Dennis’ dynamic, expressionistic figure paintings on paper. David framed them himself and to they still have pride of place in our den, hanging as a pair over the sofa. We look at them with pleasure every day.
To Maudy, Daphne and Conrad, I offer my deepest sympathies for the loss of your kind friend and father.
