Visionary artist Charles Thomas Close (1940–2021) was born on this day in Monroe, Washington. As a child with dyslexia, he faced personal loss and illness—losing his father at age 11 while his mother battled cancer. He coped by drawing.

“In life, you have to deal with your fear, the part of you that says, ‘I can’t do it,’” he said.

Calling himself “an artist looking for trouble,” Close challenged traditional portraiture, bringing attention to overlooked details—skin, hair, even the negative space around the face. He made those subtle aspects just as important as the obvious focal points.

His portraits—of himself, family, and friends like Philip Glass—are massive, mesmerizing explorations of color, pattern, and process. Whether through etching, woodcut, or silkscreen, Close believed art came to life square by square, brushstroke by brushstroke.

“I'm always bringing each square along relatively intuitively—what does it need now?” he explained. For Close, it was never just about the image. It was about the rhythm of making it. The process itself was the magic.

In 1988, a spinal blood clot left him a quadriplegic. Yet his spirit remained unbroken. With a paintbrush strapped to his wrist or held between his teeth, he continued to create and inspire.

“I know a lot of people who are paralyzed in other ways, even if they can walk,” he said. “I learned you could suffer a terrible tragedy and still be happy again.”

Chuck Close transformed adversity into artistry. His legacy is not just in the faces he painted, but in the way he faced life itself—with vision, grit, and grace. May we each stay true to our own process and never stop finding beauty in the challenge.

This celebration is dedicated to my son, Richard, an artist, dreamer, and gridbreaker, who stood with me in awe of Close’s work that afternoon at the Knoxville Museum of Art. He continues to see the world in passsionate colors.