3 days Ago By Teri Cadeau
DULUTH — It's difficult to know where to start when discussing the life and work of Cheng-Khee Chee, who died April 6. The world-renowned watercolorist who lived in Duluth for most of his life has a great many accolades to his name. Chee was known for developing his own style of watercolor techniques that melded eastern and western methods.
When the News Tribune interviewed Chee in 2015 ahead of a retrospective of 40 years of his work at the University of Minnesota Duluth's Tweed Museum, Chee said he used "Tao philosophy" to paint. He had a unique crinkle paper method of adding texture and improvisation to his pieces and said his process was "influenced by 'Do nothing, and everything will be done.' Do things the natural way.
" ADVERTISEMENT "He was someone who could take his philosophy and blend it with nature and create the most amazing things," said Robert Carlson, an organic chemistry professor at UMD. "He had a technique where he'd take India ink and our it on top, then he'd lay a piece of rice paper on top of that and he'd get this abstract design and create the most beautiful pictures out of that." Carlson joined the UMD the year after Chee started there, in 1966.
He knew Chee before he was known for his artwork and was a librarian for the university. Chee was born in southeast China and attended Nanyang University in Singapore, where he received an undergraduate degree in Chinese literature and history. Then he and his wife, Sing-Bee, moved to Minnesota, where Chee received a master's degree in library science from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, which led him to the position in Duluth.
Carlson said Chee was an instrumental librarian at a time when searching for materials took a lot longer than today. "He would call up individuals when the latest journals of their interest would show up in the library," Carlson said. "He would get to know the campus and go around and chat with a lot of people, often around lunchtime once a month or so.
He was just a valuable member of the community." Chee always had a passion for painting and started teaching watercolor courses as an assistant professor in 1981, later becoming an associate professor in 1988. "I attended a couple of his workshops and he was such a good teacher, one of the best that I've encountered," Carlson said.
"By the time he got done, he had me believing that I could do it too. Then I realized he was talking to my head and not my hands. But really, he was such an incredible teacher.
" ADVERTISEMENT In 1994, Chee took an early retirement from UMD in order to pursue art full-time, but not before receiving the University of Minnesota's Distinguished Teaching Award. According to the News Tribune story about his retirement in 1994, Chee had already received over 80 awards for his art. He'd also already illustrated his most commonly known book, "Old Turtle" by Douglas Wood, which had sold more than 125,000 copies in 1994.
It was at an event at UMD for that book that Matt Rosendahl, library director for UMD's Kathryn A. Martin Library, first met Chee. "I've respected his artwork for going on 25 years now.
When I visited Duluth when my then-girlfriend, now wife, her parents had Cheng-Khee Chee prints in their house that I always admired," Rosendahl said. "Then we got to meet him at an event when my daughter was 5 or 6 for the 'Old Turtle' book, and he was incredible." Rosendahl said he was honored to work with Chee as the library director when UMD hosted an exhibit marking the 100th anniversary of a Chinese exchange program between UMD and China, and again when Chee had his large retrospective at the Tweed Museum on campus.
Following the show, Chee chose to have a collection of original artwork donated to the library's archives and special collections. "He wanted his artwork to not just be stored away in a vault somewhere, but for it to be where students and people who want to learn watercolor could learn from his techniques," Rosendahl said. "His files and drawings and notes will allow students to come and learn from his unique way of creating watercolor art.
" By this time, Chee had become a Dolphin Fellow of the American Watercolor Society, a Distinguished Master of the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, and a signature member of many other national art associations. His award count was far greater than 80, and he received a Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the Watercolor USA Honor Society, an Art and Culture Community Enrichment Award from the Duluth Depot Foundation, and an Alumni Achievement award from Nanyan University, his alma mater. But despite all the awards, when Rosendahl talked with him, Chee was always very humble.
ADVERTISEMENT "Whenever we'd have a conversation and I'd comment about how much I loved his art, he'd say 'Oh, but remember, I'm just a humble librarian,'" Rosendahl said. "Obviously, he was so much more, but that's where he got his start.".
