Wilfred J. “Chick” Huettel

Born: June 20, 1942

“Life goes on with my art, and I try like so many artists, to just follow its natural cycle that ebbs and flows with the artist’s Muse.”

Chick Huettel, known as the “Tennessee River Painter”, painted along the Tennessee River for 30 years before moving to Florida. His honorary title was bestowed upon him by the 90th Tennessee Legislature General Assembly for the preservation of a part of the state’s heritage.

While attending the Memphis Academy of Arts and studying the English masters, Turner and Constable plus the various impressionists, he evolved into his style. His landscape work lends itself to the traditional method of balance and color, but he also enjoys doing humorous works with early British artists’, Cruikshank and Rowlandson, as his mentors.

“People are so funny at times and they don’t even know it.”

He also paints in the spectrum of the Fauve artists and does pottery and sculpture.

Today Chick’s studio overlooks the expanse of the Choctawhatchee Bay located in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. There he paints fishermen, crab men, oystermen, plus the never ending kaleidoscope of atmospheres with its companion wildlife.

His exhibits have included Brooks Museum, Turner Clark Gallery, Christian Brothers University & High School, Dixon Gallery and Gardens all located in Memphis. Huntsville Museum of Art and Dothan Art Gallery in Alabama. His art has been and still is in galleries in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana (New Orleans) , Tennessee, and Washington, D.C. The Tennessee Governor’s mansion, the U.S. Pentagon, and the TVA offices also contain his works.