Dorothy Gillespie was an American artist and sculptor who became known for her large and colorful abstract metal sculptures. Her works are featured at her alma mater in Virginia, where later returned to teach, as well as in New York, Wilmington, North Carolina and Florida.
Early and family life
Gillespie was born in Roanoke, Virginia in 1920, the daughter of Earl V. Gillespie and his wife Lilian. She had a younger brother Earl V. Gillespie Jr. and younger sister Lilian and from her youth she showed an affinity for art. She graduated from Jefferson High School in Roanoke in 1937. She later attributed her vivid designs and bright colors to memories of a Christmas tree in Roanoke. Although her parents disagreed with her wish to pursue art as a career, she enrolled both at Radford University near her hometown, and the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. The director of the Maryland Institute, Hans Schuler, helped foster her career in fine art. Gillespie married Bernard Israel in 1946, and they had three children before his death in 1992.
Career
On June 5, 1943, aged 23, Gillespie moved to New York City. There she took a job at the B. Altman department store as assistant art director. She also joined the Art Students League where she was exposed to new ideas about techniques, materials, and marketing. She also created works at Atelier 17 printmaking studio, where Stanley William Hayter encouraged to experiment with her own ideas. She and her husband, Bernard Israel, opened a restaurant and night club in Greenwich Village to support their family. She returned to making art in 1957, and worked at art full-time after they sold the nightclub in the 1970. In 1977 Gillespie gave her first lecture series at the New School for Social Research, and she would give others there until 1982. She taught at her alma mater as a Visiting Artist and gave Radford University some of her work to begin its permanent art collection. Gillespie then served as Woodrow Wilson visiting Fellow, visiting many small private colleges to give public lectures and teach young artists. She returned to Radford University to teach as Distinguished Professor of Art. She also hosted a radio program, the "Dorothy Gillespie Show" on Radio Station WHBI in New York from 1967-1973. Gillespie also maintained a studio in Florida and served on the Board of Trustees of the Maitland Art Center in Maitland, Florida and on the Broward County Cultural Affairs Council. Gillespie began moving away from realism and into the abstraction that marked her career. Gillespie returned to New York City in 1963 to continue her career. She maintained a studio through the 70s and advocat worked towards feminist goals in the art industry, picketing the Whitney Museum, helping to organize the Women's Interart Center, curating exhibitions of women's art, and writing articles raising awareness of her cause. By the 1980s, Gillespie's work had come to be known internationally. She completed many commissions for sculptures in public places, including the Lincoln Center and Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida. Her work is unique in its use of ribbon-like shape and use of bright colors. Her sculptures are crafted out of aluminum covered in enamel. Her “Colorfall,” is a 40-foot tall sculpture hanging in the lobby of Wilmington's Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts.
Death and legacy
During her lifetime, the Women's Caucus for Art awarded Gillespie its Outstanding Services award in 2001. She also consented to an interview with WDBJ7 in her hometown in 2004, and stressed her philosophy which saw "the good side of life, and turned everything negative into a positive." Dorothy Gillespie died in Coral Gables, Florida on Sunday September 30, 2012. She established a foundation to continue her work and the women's art movement after her death.
