A celebrated Tacoma artist — known for striking sketches and ‘Dead Feminists’ — dies at 41

Tacoma artist Chandler O’Leary could “draw anything,” according to her husband, Donald Sidman.

Known locally and beyond for her one-of-a-kind illustrations, watercolor sketches and letterpress work — much of which relied on Tacoma and the grandeur of the Pacific Northwest as a muse — Sidman said that one of his wife’s many gifts was making “a study of all that she could see.”

“She had a particular eye for things that were beautiful, unusual or startling,” Sidman told The News Tribune this week. “She had an eye for things that needed to be sketched, and it’s just remarkable the things that she saw.”

O’Leary died unexpectedly on Sunday, April 2, from what Sidman described as a brief, sudden bout with severe pneumonia. Only 41, O’Leary left behind a grieving husband, a 4-year-old son, and a broader Tacoma art community struggling to come to terms with a loss no one saw coming.

On Tuesday, only two days after his wife’s passing, Sidman said the last 48 hours had been his “worst nightmare.” While O’Leary was best known publicly as an artist and writer — her work included a recently published illustrated travel guide of Pacific Northwest islands — Sidman remembered his wife of nearly 15 years as “so much more.”

The response to O’Leary’s death — which has included a stream of heartfelt social media tributes and a GoFundMe effort that has already raised more than $35,000 for the family — has been overwhelming, Sidman said.

“The support, and the outpouring of love, has been tremendous — and somewhat unexpected. We couldn’t ask for more from the community, our community,” said Sidman, who teaches chemistry and physics at Annie Wright.

“But one never gets over something like this. It takes a lifetime.”

As documented in The News Tribune over the years by writers like Rosemary Ponnekanti, O’Leary moved to Tacoma from Minneapolis in 2008, and, with five years as a professional illustrator on her resume, gained fast artistic footing in her new city. Her detailed travel sketches and distinctively striking broadsides, which appeared on her blog and, soon, art shows around town, quickly put her rare talent on display. Meanwhile, through the imprint she started, Anagram Press, O’Leary successfully merged art with her independent entrepreneurial spirit.

In 2016, O’Leary and her frequent artistic collaborator Jessica Spring released what’s perhaps O’Leary’s most widely-known work: “Dead Feminists: Historic Heroines in Living Color” (Sasquatch), a collection of more than 20 broadside posters featuring hand-drawn historic quotes from female icons that the creative duo had been working on since shortly after O’Leary arrived in Tacoma. Along the way, O’Leary released a breathtakingly presented collection of Mount Rainier sketches in 2010, and published “Greetings from the Best Coast” in 2019.

O’Leary also lent her immense gifts to multiple pieces of well-known public art during her time in Tacoma, including “Droplets,” a series of painted medallions — or “portholes” — that represent (and transcend) Old Town’s diverse history.

O’Leary grew up in Cape Cod, and according to Sidman, was drawn to the coast throughout her life.

Over decades spent traveling, exploring and creating, it’s one of many reasons she called Tacoma home, he said.

“On summer nights the light from a pair of lighthouses blinks through my bedroom window, and from my studio I can hear gulls crying and sea lions barking — my favorite sounds in the world,” O’Leary wrote in the “about” section of her website, by way of introduction. “I spend my days drawing pictures and every free moment crisscrossing the continent on winding back roads.”

Spring, who described O’Leary as “brilliant,” said she was devastated by her friend’s sudden death. It’s a tragedy that’s hard to make sense of, she admitted, and one that will leave Tacoma missing one of its shining creative stars, she said.

“It’s unfathomable. … I’m going to think of her almost every day,” Spring said. “I think because she loved the city so much, her work just made everything even more beautiful. … You can’t go anywhere without seeing some Chandler.”

Rebecca Solverson, the city of Tacoma’s public art specialist, worked with O’Leary on multiple occasions over the years.

Solverson said that O’Leary possessed a rare ability to translate her artistic visions into multiple mediums, and that the public installations she dreamed up are some of Tacoma’s most recognizable.

“She was somebody that could do anything. She was so good at what she did — her foundation and illustration and design were so strong — that she was able to jump to all these applications,” Solverson said, noticeably shaken by O’Leary’s death. “It’s just a big shock. Chandler was the best to work with. She was so good.”

Sidman, who’s now left to raise the couple’s young son, hopes that O’Leary’s artistic legacy will serve as a testament, and provide inspiration for other artists in the future.

While O’Leary’s sudden death has inflicted unimaginable personal pain — and devastation across Tacoma’s tight-knit arts community — he believes the reminders his wife leaves behind will resonate for years to come.

“For somebody who was only 41, she leaves a tremendous body of work. It is remarkable how much she truly did — how many illustrations, and the books, and the public art. She was always working,” Sidman said.

“I would hope that people would celebrate her mark, and always remember that one person can make a tremendous difference in this world.”

Material from The News Tribune’s archives was included in this column.