Mary Voelz Chandler, whose passionate, authoritative writing on Denver’s art and architecture changed the way Coloradans looked at their largest city, died in her Denver home on Tuesday, Jan. 10, at the age of 74, according to Joe Rassenfoss, her former editor at the Rocky Mountain News.
“She was an outspoken voice, but everybody respected her,” said Gass, who contributed to Chandler’s 311-page bookwhich enjoyed two editions and featured a forward by then-Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. “She had her own sense of values, which didn’t always coincide with mine, but we had some conversations.”
“She was a great influence on me as a curator and she recognized integrity,” said Timothy J. Standring, curator emeritus of the Denver Art Museum. “She was brass-tacked and hard nosed and didn’t please everybody, but that made her a more admirable critic in my mind, and someone who served the public well.”
Renowned architect Daniel Libeskind’s sleek, silvery addition to the Denver Art Museum, known as the Hamilton Building, helped usher in a new age for Denver’s museum scene. Chandler covered that as seriously as then-tiny museums such as the Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art. She opposed and endorsed major civic projects — such as a proposed move of the History Colorado Center to Civic Center — and influenced mayors, architects and artists, and readers.