An Exhibition of Portraits of Chandler Community Leaders

An Exhibition of Portraits of Chandler Community Leaders

by Tad Smith

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A.J.Chandler

1859-1950 Alexander John Chandler, or “A.J.,� was the founder of the modern City of Chandler.

Originally from the small town of Coaticook in the Canadian province of Quebec, Chandler moved to Arizona in 1887 in the then-capital of Prescott after receiving an offer to become the veterinary surgeon for Arizona Territory. He soon resigned, and after touring southern Arizona and neighboring California, he discovered the key to desert prosperity by controlling water supply.

In 1891, Dr. Chandler bought 80 acres of land from the federal government south of Mesa in the Salt River Valley, which was later to become the City of Chandler.

By the start of the new century, Chandler owned an 18,000 acre ranch. He then worked on a system of canals and worked on dividing his land to better suit a community in the Arizona desert. The townsite office was opened on May 17, 1912, and the community that was to become the industrialized City of Chandler was born. (Cover image)

City of Chandler Mayor & Council 2013 - 2014 Serving the Citizens of Chandler Front Row, from left: Council member Trinity Donovan, Mayor Jay Tibshraeny, Council member Nora Ellen. Back Row, from left: Council member Jeff Weninger, Council member Jack Sellers, Council member Kevin Hartke; and Vice Mayor Rick Heumann. (Pervious page)

How Were the Portrait Subjects Selected?

We received many recommendations for people whose community service would qualify them for inclusion. The first twenty selected are citizens who have reached into our community in many ways, providing excellent leadership and proving that the only way to improve our community is to act. These portraits represent a group of individuals who have touched our community by their kindness and inspired our community with their works.

If you have a recommendation of someone who should be included in this project in future years, feel free to fill out a slip and let us know.

This exhibition is sponsored by the Chandler Arts Commission.

AnnetteAuxier “It is our right and privilege to participate in determining the course of our community, state and nation — and yes, our school district.”

– Annette Auxier on elections, the voting process, and the Chandler Unified School District, 2012.

Annette Auxier, President of the Governing Board for the Chandler Unified School District (CUSD), has served the community’s educational district for over fifteen years. She first won her post to the governing board in 1998 and was reelected in 2004 and again in 2008. During her time with the district, she has worked to incorporate evolving technology in to the classroom environment and excels at compromising in various issues involving education and the needs of the children in the various schools among the district.

When discussing her campaign for reelection, she cites her strong passion for public education and willingness to play a role in the various developments occurring in the City of Chandler. Regarding the democratic electoral system, she urges everyone to play a role in their community and cast their vote. “Though you might not agree with my candidate (sic) or the issues I believe in, the outcome must surely be better when we all participate.”

Annette was elected President of the CUSD Governing Board in 2013 and is currently serving her fourth, four-year term on the board.

EddieBashaJr. 1937-2013

“Make Arizona your business.

It will feed your future.”

–Eddie Basha on education Eddie Basha, Jr., a Chandler native and the former CEO for the Arizona grocery chain Bashas’, was also a philanthropist, arts supporter, and education and youth advocate. He was a member of the Arizona Board of Education and the Arizona Board of Regents, and has opened up a Western and Native American art gallery in Chandler that is open to the public. Since its founding, the Bashas’ chain has donated over $100 million to local Arizona communities.

Founded in 1932, Eddie became head of the Bashas’ grocery store chain in 1968 and expanded it to include AJ’s Fine Foods and Food City since 1993, eventually opening over a hundred stores in Arizona two outside the state. The chain has since become the seventh largest employer in the state.

Basha served as the President for the Chandler Unified School District from 1968 to 1980. He was appointed to the State Board of Education in 1984 by then-governor Bruce Babbitt and the State Senate. He was then appointed to the Arizona Board of Regents in 1990 by Governor Rose Mofford. He ran for Arizona governor in 1994, but lost to opponent Fife Symington; he decided not to run again in 1998.

Eddie Basha’s dedication to Arizona continued in the arts. The Zelma Basha Salmeri Gallery of Western American and American Indian Art opened in 1992 in southern Chandler and includes over 3,000 pieces of art. Basha’s $16 million art gallery is dedicated to contemporary American Indian and American Western art of various mediums, from oil paintings, pottery, sculptures, and more. It is viewable free to the public on weekdays.

Eddie Basha passed away on March 26, 2013. He is survived by his wife, Nadine, and their six sons. He will be remembered for much of his charitable work and service to the people of Arizona. A plaque memorizes Basha at Chandler’s Celebration Plaza in Tumbleweed Park for his decades of service to the community.

Barbara& JacksonBogle Jackson Bogle (1921-2005) and Barbara Bogle were longtime Chandler residents whose involvement in community affairs helped shaped Chandler into the modern city that it is today. Jackson, a New Mexico native, became involved in the U.S. Army and the National Guard and became Adjunct General of the latter. Having experienced battles in China during World War II, Jackson was very passionate about the National Guard and the role it played in national defense. Barbara, an Iowa native, was a student at Iowa State College in Ames. Marrying in 1942, the couple moved to Chandler from Iowa in 1946.

Once in Arizona, the couple became much involved in local functions of the community. Barbara became involved in many community services, such as the Philanthropic Educational Organization, Chandler Museum, Girl Scout summer programs, Chandler Service Club, the Hospital Board, and the behavioral health board in Mesa.

Jackson continued to remain active in the National Guard, but was assisted by Barbara in state and national conventions. Jackson also served on numerous education-related boards and supported the Boy Scouts. In 1991, a new junior high school (Bogle Jr. High) of the Chandler Unified School District was named in honor of Jackson’s years of work on the district’s governing board. Both were part of the original founders of the Chandler Regional Hospital Foundation and were substantial supporters of hospitals.

Jackson passed away in 2005 at the age of 81. He is survived by his wife Barbara and their five children. Both were very involved in the community and continued to see the growth of the small town of Chandler into the large city that it has become.

PattiBruno “I think the impact we make is important.

It is important to give back.”

– Patti Bruno, on her leadership role with the Desert Cancer Foundation of Arizona Patti Bruno served eight years as a councilmember for the Chandler City Council from 1996 to 2004. She has also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the city and its people and has supported many organizations, including ICAN, an organization for challenged youth in need. She is a community volunteer and board member for the non-profit. She is also on the Board of Directors and is the President of the Executive Committee for The Desert Cancer Foundation of Arizona for the 2013-2014 calendar, a volunteer non-profit Cancer awareness organization formed in 1998 to provide information about resources and treatment options for those facing the disease.

Patti Bruno was also the Honorary Chair for the Chairitable event held at the Chandler Center for the Arts in 2013. The one-time public event featured both a live and silent auction of artist-decorated chairs and tables to raise funds in support Chandler youth arts programs, such as the Vision Gallery’s Vision Kidz program, which offers free Saturday art classes to Valley children. The program uses professional artists to teach youth of the various forms of art and offers them lessons on how to create their own works of art, giving insight on to helpful techniques, methods, and observations.

CamilleCasteel Camille Casteel, a Phoenix native, is the superintendent of the Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) since 1996, as well as a member of many organizations. Regarding her work with the school district, she has worked with the district for 42 years and has served a variety of positions, from teacher, curriculum specialist, and assistant superintendent.

The Chandler Unified School District oversees public k-12 education around the City of Chandler, Arizona. A large district of 42 schools and over 41,000 students, Casteel oversees an expansive area of 80 square miles, encompassing 4 high schools, 7 junior high schools, 29 elementary schools and 2 alternative schools. The district prides itself in excellence and has received a letter “A� grade from the Arizona Department of Education for a third year in a row.

She has been a member of the Dignity Health East Valley Hospital Board since 1988, and also serves on the Arizona State University Polytech Community Board, Regional Health Record Banking Alliance, Board of Directors for The Alliance, East Valley Think Tank, Superintendents Advisory for Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA), and the Chandler Chamber of Commerce Foundation Board.

EddieEncinas 1932-2013 Jose Edwardo Encinas, or commonly known as “Eddie,” a Chandler native, was an active supporter and devotee for the Chandler community. After graduating from Chandler High School in 1954, he was drafted into the United States Army, where he subsequently served 23 years of service as a nike missile fire controller.

During his time with the army, Jose had been stationed in three European countries and two Asian ones, Korea and Japan. After his military involvement, Jose then got involved with the City of Chandler, where he served on the Housing and Human Services Commission and the Chandler Coalition for Civil and Human Rights, Inc. (C3HR), in which he served on the Board of Directors.

Jose was an enthusiastic supporter of the Chandler community and was a major proponent for its cultural diversity. On 2012, on Eddie’s 80th birthday, March 6th was declared Eddie Encinas Day by the Mayor of Chandler, Jay Tibshraeny for his dedicated and devoted work and commitment to the community. Eddie sadly passed away the following year on May 13, 2013, at the age of 81. He is survived by his brother, sister, 5 children, 13 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.

LaurieFagen Laurie Fagen is a jazz singer and an artist in fiber and wearable art, as well as a current member of the Chandler Arts Commission, an advisory board for the City of Chandler in regards to distribution of funds for public works of art and the resulting location and placement of such pieces.

She also owned and operated the SanTan Sun News, a local community newspaper servicing southern Chandler and the surrounding area. She had run the twice-monthly paper featuring news, arts, public events, and more for over 13 years.

Regarding her work in the arts, Fagen is a noted fiber artist, with her work having been on display in galleries and exhibits in Arizona, California, North Carolina, Iowa, and in private collections around the country. In 1999, she founded Fagen Designs to showcase her contemporary works in fiber and wearable art. She also founded Art Online AZ, an online space for collaborating with and promoting Arizona artists. Recently, she juried the Artrageous: Art Quilts Year XVIII exhibition at the Chandler Center for the Arts, which was on open display to the public from November 2013 to January 2014. The exhibit’s theme was to inspire artists to step outside their own conventional boundaries and create artistic quilts that expanded upon the traditional definition of the medium and create works of art that would evoke a unique response from viewers.

JoeGarcia Jose A. Garcia, an Arizona native, was a cultural advocate for the Chandler community. Born in Duncan, Arizona, Joe graduated from Gilbert High School in 1963.

He was drafted into the United States Army in March 1966 and went through basic training in Fort Bliss, Texas before advanced infantry training in Fort Ord, California.

He also attended Officer Candidate School in Fort Benning, Georgia and in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Mr. Garcia was assigned to the Fourth Division in Pleiku, Vietnam from August 1967 through August 1968 in the Central Highlands as a Platoon Leader. He received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star with V. Mr. Garcia was a lieutenant with the Mesa Police Department and after retiring from that department he went on to serve as the Chief of Security at Chandler-Gilbert Community College.

In 1997, Mr. Garcia helped found the Chandler Coalition for Civil and Human Rights, Inc. (C3HR), which was established to create unity between the City of Chandler and members of the Hispanic community. In addition, C3HR wanted to expose the community to the rich and beautiful Mexican culture and decided to sponsor and produce the following events: the Chandler Cinco de Mayo Chihuahua Races and Celebration, the Chandler C3HR Mariachi Festival and Garibaldi Night. Funds raised from these events go toward scholarships the C3HR awards to students in the Chandler community each year that are pursuing a college education.

Up until his untimely death, Mr. Garcia worked tirelessly to promote human rights and to create awareness about all the Hispanic community has to offer. He mentored scores of young people throughout his life and made it his mission to ensure that Hispanic youth in the community had the opportunity to achieve a higher education.

Mr. Garcia is survived by his wife Rosalia Garcia and three sons, Fred, Tony and Carlos.

CynthiaHardy Originally from New York, Cynthia Hardy has been a proud resident of Chandler, Arizona since 1999. Since moving to Arizona, she has been a very active member in the Chandler community. In 2010, she was appointed to the Chandler Human Relations Commission Board, where she served as the Vice-Chair and was also a co-Chair for the Multicultural Festival and Celebration of Unity events from 2010-2012. A member of the Chandler Coalition on Youth Substance Abuse (CCYSA) since 2009, she was voted to the Executive Board as Community Member-atLarge from 2010-2012. She has been a member of the For Our City organization of the City of Chandler since 2009, an organization intended to service the needs of the City of Chandler and non-profits from the resources of faith-based communities, employers, business groups, and others in and around Chandler.

Cynthia Hardy has also been a valuable volunteer to the community. From 1999 to 2010 she was a parent volunteer for the Chandler Unified School District. She was a volunteer for Income Tax Assistance with AARP in Chandler from 2005-2006 and with the City of Chandler VITA program from 2011-2012. She has also been a volunteer part-time substitute Sunday School Teacher at the Congregational Church of the Valley since 2013.

On October 25, 2013, Cynthia was appointed to Governor Jan Brewer’s Arizona SERVES Task Force for a three-year term. Married to her husband since 1985, Hardy has three grown sons, all of whom graduated from two of the Chandler Unified School District’s high schools. Cynthia continues to serve the greater community and has proven herself a commendable contributor in multiple aspects.

BeckyJackson “I am definitely looking forward to working with the families, the community and the board to build ICAN’s future focus with youth and families at its epicenter.”

–Becky Jackson, on her role as CEO of ICAN Becky Jackson, the current CEO of ICAN: Positive Programs for Youth, a nonprofit organization for youth in need, is a great supporter for families and the children of Chandler. Prior to her leadership role in ICAN, she had previously volunteered on the Only ICAN Capital Campaign to help the organization construct a new facility to better serve the children of the community.

Improving Chandler Area Neighborhoods (ICAN) was formed in 1991 by Henry Salinas to help young school students who often could not afford after-school programs a place to learn and play after school hours. The organization shortened its name to simply ICAN in 2011. ICAN helps keep children on a productive path to education and helps those who are often disadvantaged or otherwise at-risk. In 2012, construction was completed on a new, 21,000 square foot facility which would serve as the new campus for the organization.

From her prior work involving her previous occupation as President of the Chandler Chamber of Commerce to her role as the Executive Director of the Desert Southwest Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), Jackson has shown the community of her capability to help and support youth in need.

SherryKiyler “We have to partner with our community about what are the crime issues and the social issues we need to address.”

–Sherry Kiyler, on her role in law enforcement and the community Former Chandler Police Chief of 9 years, Sherry Kiyler had been in the law enforcement industry for over 40 years when she retired in 2013. When she originally started working for the Phoenix Police Department in 1970 as a dispatcher at the age of 19, what began as a temporary job while she worked on a teaching degree turned into a decades-long career that ultimately saw her become the head of the Police Department for the City of Chandler.

Kiyler graduated from the Phoenix police academy in 1973, and officially became a sworn police officer that year. From patrolling the streets to becoming a sergeant, she decided to further her career by obtaining a degree. In 1992, she earned her Bachelor of Art in Management from the University of Phoenix. After becoming a lieutenant, she worked on child, sexual, and later on, homicide crimes. She later on sought a change, seeing a posting for the police chief position for the Chandler Police Department. After serving 31 years with the Phoenix Police Department, she applied, and out of 80 other applicants, she was hired as Chandler’s police chief in 2004.

Since obtaining her new post to the Chandler police, Kiyler has made great strides in the department and community in general. In 2008, she and other chiefs from the area formed the East Valley Police Chiefs Association, which utilizes information-sharing and regional cooperation to help achieve greater efficiency among the bordering communities. Kiyler was also very involved in her own district, which included the construction of two new police substations and incorporated new radio and records management systems. Kiyler has also done much for the community, such as attending various fundraisers for local nonprofit organizations and providing neighborhood academies and other community outreach programs for the residents of Chandler.

Regarding her years of work on the job, Kiyler says, “We get to save lives. We get to catch bad people.”

BarbaraKnox “I was taught that any talents we possess are gifts from God and that he expects us to use the abilities He has provided.”

–Barbara Knox, on her dedication to community service Barbara Knox, originally from Muncie, Indiana, has offered great assistance and support to the Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) and has been a helpful supporter of several local organizations in her community.

While originally from the Midwest, Knox’s family moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1947 due to her mother’s asthma. After a year, however, the family soon moved to Chandler after her father’s job offer at Chandler High School as an industrial arts teacher. With the family’s move from Phoenix, Barbara transferred from Phoenix Union High School to Chandler High School, where she quickly likened the teachers and programs offered.

During her years at the school, Knox became a girls’ skater, band officer, trumpet player, and was involved in speech and drama. She graduated in 1951 as an Honor Graduate.

After high school, Barbara attended Colorado Women’s College in Denver, where she obtained her Associate in Arts Degree in 1953, where she was also involved in many of the school’s clubs. After obtaining her degree, she then transferred to the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she graduated with a degree in Elementary Education in 1954.

Barbara married her husband, Norman, in the Mesa First Methodist Church in 1955.

She taught school for 2 years before deciding to become a stay-at-home mother for their 2 sons. While raising her children, Barbara became heavily involved in her community, where she became a school worker for the Chandler Unified School District, and also became President of the P.T.A. Other organizations she became involved with include the YMCA, Chandler Women’s Club, Chandler School District Governing Board, and the Cancer Society, and several others. Knox was so involved that she was named Arizona Clubwoman of the Year in 1963, and was also awarded the Female Leadership Award by the Chandler Chamber of Commerce in 1973. In 1992, she was named Arizona School Board Member of the Year for her elected positions in to the CUSD Governing Board. She is also a life member of the Arizona Service Club and the National P.T.A.

SteenaMurray Steena Murray is a member of the Chandler Cultural Foundation, a reviewing board for the Chandler Center for the Arts (CCA) in Downtown Chandler. She is also a member at large of the Executive Committee for the Downtown Chandler Community Partnership (DCCP), a non-profit organization that promotes businesses and organizes events in the downtown area. In addition to this, she is furthermore a “Guardian” member for ICAN’s Henry Salinas Society, having donated thousands of dollars to the organization. ICAN is a non-profit organization that aims to help the youth in need in Chandler by offering after-school activities and programs for the advancement and achievement of the children that it cares for.

Steena Murray also presented Zoppe: An Italian Family Circus Since 1842 at the Chandler Center for the Arts from December 2013 to January 2014. The circus event, which was held on the western grounds of the CCA, included a variety of events and also boasted a 500-seatable circus tent. Special performances included the Kiddie Show and the New Year’s Eve Under the Big Top.

MaryPoindexter Mary Poindexter is a mixed-media artist and an advocate for community diversity and unity. As such, she is also a member of the Human Relations Commission for the City of Chandler. The commission communicates to City Council on ways to encourage respect and understanding for the various demographic populations who live, work, study, play, and otherwise occupy their time within the city. A goal is to make people from different ethnic, racial, religious, cultural, or other unique and distinct populations to feel at home and welcome within the greater community.

Mary is deeply involved in celebrating diversity in the ever-expanding city, and works with the Human Relations Commissions on public events such as the annual Multicultural Festival, an occasion for highlighting some of the city’s many groups and cultures, held each January in Downtown Chandler. Free to the public, the festivities include music, dance, storytelling, art, and more. “It’s a chance for the community to see the different ethnic groups we have and how diverse Chandler is. It’s a chance to showcase those different cultures,” Mary says of the annual event, which is part of the month long Celebration of Unity, a citywide effort to celebrate the city’s heritage and diversity.

MichaelPollock Michael A. Pollack is the Founder and President of Pollack Investments, an Arizona real estate company that is independently owned and operated. The company specializes in all forms of real estate, from construction, leasing, ownership, and management-related projects. His career began in 1973 in San Jose, California, where he worked on single-family homes but soon moved to multifamily residences and became personally involved in the development and redevelopment of over 10,000 housing units. He has since worked on numerous projects in several states. In 1980 he reinvented himself as “The Renovation King of distressed properties,” in which he has since become known considerably for expanding and renovating multiple properties.

Michael Pollack is an active advocate for giving back to the community, and gives considerably to non-profit and charity organizations, including (but not limited to) Goodwill Industries, Banner Health Foundation, Boys and Girls Club, Chandler Regional Hospital, Special Olympics, American Cancer Society, Chandler Center for the Arts, YMCA, and various others. Pollack’s philanthropy does not stop there, however. In 2003, he founded (and performed in) the band Corporate Affair, which has staged various charitable in highly visible venues such as the Arizona Biltmore, the Phoenician Resort, Sheraton Wild Horse Pass, Mesa Hilton, Scottsdale Waterfront, and others; events hosted and held at no cost to the charities involved.

Michael Pollack is a member of the City of Chandler’s Economic Development Board and the Mayor’s 4 Corner Economic Board. The City of Chandler has publicly recognized his work in redeveloping and revitalizing over 400,000 square feet of retail shopping space in the city, as well as for his abundant aid to numerous charities.

DorothyRuoff Dorothy Woods Ruoff is a Chandler native and longtime resident who has lived in the city for much of the Twentieth Century. The house that Dorothy grew up in was built in 1921, and her family bought the home when she was three months old and moved in 1937. Her home was in the affluent “Silk Stocking” neighborhood. It was said that a man who could afford a home there at the time could also afford his wife silk stockings. For much of the early to mid-20th Century, Chandler was a small agricultural town with a small suburban center at its core.

“To go to Phoenix was always an adventure because there were only a few paved roads,” Dorothy recalls of the city’s past.

Dorothy graduated from high school in 1954, and went on to attend college, where she obtained her biology degree in Denver, CO. She married her husband in 1959, and she moved back to Arizona, where they had 4 children.

Dorothy has moved several times since being in her original home in Chandler, moving both in and out of state. Towards the end of the century, she moved back to Chandler after living in Phoenix for 30 years, and managed to move into the original 1921 house that she grew up in, where she also cared for her mother until her death in 1998 at the age of 92.

Dorothy served on the Chandler Education Foundation Board and is an Ex-Officio member. She currently has 5 children and 14 grandchildren, whom she frequently gathers for holidays and special occasions. She and fellow neighbor Mary Lou Perkins have worked to get their local neighborhood registered as a Historical Neighborhood. In 2011, the “Silk Stocking” neighborhood became recognized as a National Register of Historic Places.

HenrySalinas Henry Salinas is the founder of ICAN: Positive Programs for Youth, a non-profit organization created in 1991 in Chandler as an outlet for play, recreation, and learning for young Chandler students after school hours.

Salinas came across the idea after noticing many youth in Chandler becoming involved in delinquency and gang activity. In shock of this, Salinas pondered on the factors causing young people in the area to become involved in such activity. He realized that many youth had no access to safe environments after school, and many could not afford to join after-school clubs. From what started as simple gatherings in parks and school gymnasiums, Salinas expanded his efforts into the organization for youth that the community knows today.

Today ICAN has grown considerably and still remains as a free service to the 150+ students it serves today. In 2012, the organization moved into a newly constructed facility, the ICAN Lon E. Hoeye Youth Center in Chandler. Just outside of Downtown Chandler, the $5.6 million, 21,000 square foot facility allows ICAN to serve over 250 children a day and continue its mission to serve children with resourceful and educational programs that allow them to better understand and demonstrate confidence and responsibility amongst themselves, their friends and family, and the greater community in general.

Henry Salinas has left a great impact on the community through his hard work in helping children in need receive a better chance to succeed in both their education and future. Without such helpful and noble efforts, many of Chandler’s children would not have the programs and resources they need to become responsible and productive members of society.

ErnieSerranoJr. Ernie Serrano Jr. is the Vice President of Restaurant Operations for the Serranos Mexican restaurant food chain. The familyowned chain was founded in 1919 as a clothing store in Downtown Chandler, but later transformed into a Southeast Valley regional restaurant chain, with seven Serranos Mexican food restaurants and Brunchies, a breakfast and lunch restaurant in Downtown Chandler, close to the original Serranos Mexican restaurant which opened in 1979. Since then, the family has opened additional Serranos restaurants in Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert, and Queen Creek.

The son of Ernie Serrano Sr., who unfortunately passed away in 2009, Ernie Serrano Jr. has been an active advocate for the revitalization of Downtown Chandler, and has served as the President of the Downtown Chandler Community Partnership (DCCP) for 12 years. The DCCP is an organization which promotes the local businesses and organizes several yearly events in the downtown area. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Chandler Cultural Foundation, a non-profit organization formed in 1989 to both organize and promote the Chandler Center for the Arts (CCA), which opened that same year as a result from cooperative efforts from the City of Chandler and the Chandler Unified School District.

In addition to donating to numerous charities, the Serranos restaurant in Chandler has also participated in the Chandler Center for the Arts’ Eat Your Art Out annual event in which on a certain day multiple Chandler restaurants donate funds to the CCA in support of the arts in Chandler. Funds from the fundraising event help support headline entertainment, the Free Summer Concert Series and the Connecting Kidz program.

TadSmith Fine Artist and Graphic Designer, Tad Smith is no stranger to creating artwork for Chandler, Arizona. For over a decade, the East Valley resident has designed the Chandler Visitors’ Guide for The City of Chandler and has created ads, brochures, and even trade show graphics for various departments that promote the city. His ties to downtown Chandler go back to his creation of the Historic Downtown Chandler ‘lamp post’ logo, and he knows many storeowners in downtown Chandler personally. He is often involved in local events, from the art walks where he shows his work to book signings at Sibley’s West, the retail store in downtown Chandler that carries the book he illustrated and his wife wrote, Tales of a Tombstone, Arizona Tortoise.

So it’s no surprise that his latest artistic tie to Chandler is to create artwork that honors the influential people who have impacted the community and contributed to the town’s growth. This exhibit, The Chandler Portraits will begin January 24, 2014 at Vision Gallery.

Portraits include the Chandler, Arizona founder, A.J. Chandler, who first envisioned its ‘City Beautiful’ style, and current council members and influential business owners. Each person is creatively illustrated in a whimsical and colorful style.

Tad’s work is inspired by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, who are well-known for their ‘pop art’ styles.

Tad’s popular ‘Glamour Girl’ collection, based on a similar style, has been shown at galleries and stores throughout the state, and he offers custom portraits.

Tad has owned his design business, The Design Idea Graphics, for over twenty years.

He also creates Visitor’s Guides and marketing materials for Mesa, Tempe, and Fountain Hills. Tad and his wife, Heather Smith, have been married for over 20 years and have two teenage daughters who are also artists. For other samples of Tad’s work visit portraitsbytad.com or TheDesignIdea.com.

Special thanks to my beautiful wife ,Heather, that supports me and my art.

Vision Gallery - Chandler Arts Commission 10 East Chicago Street, Chandler, AZ 85225 480-782-2696 •visiongallery.org