Marc Y. Chenevert

Marc Young Chenevert (born April 15,1955) is an aviation artist and published author of Aim High, an autobiographical work about Chenevert's time in the US Military as a gay airman during the 1970s.

Early Years
Chenevert was born April 15, 1955, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, at Fort Bragg. His father, Alan Harvey Chenevert (1921-1988) from Menominee, Wisconsin, was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division as a master parachutist and then joined the U.S. Army Engineer's Corps and retired as Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army. Chenevert's mother, Jean Forbes Chenevert (1921-1977), was a homemaker. Chenevert is the youngest of three children. He has a half brother, Donald Campbell Taggart (1942) and another brother Gary Forbes Chenevert (1954).

Being part of a military family, Chenevert moved frequently during his childhood. From the time he was born in 1955 until 1961, the family had moved four times eventually settling at Fort Wainwright located in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Chenevert family remained at Fort Wainwright for the next three years. Chenevert attended kindergarten in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, beginning in 1960. He then began his elementary education while at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska, at Birch Hill Elementary School from 1961 until 1964.

In June 1964, the family was relocated to Fort Belvoir in Alexandria, Virginia. In September of that year, Chenevert began his fourth grade year at nearby Washington Mill School, part of the Fairfax County, Virginia Schools. Chenevert also completed grades 5 through 11 in various Alexandria, Virginia public schools. Chenevert graduated from high school in 1973, from West Carteret High School at Morehead City, North Carolina.

Artistic Interest
At the age of 8, Chenevert completed his first artwork. It was a pencil drawing taken from a photo from the Fort Wainwright, Fairbanks, Alaska Newspaper. The subject was Officers' Club owner Don Tweet standing in front of the facility as it caught fire and burned. Chenevert was enthralled with the uniqueness of the photograph and decided to also do a color pencil drawing of the same subject. At this point, he had no formal art training and would not receive this training until 1994. His interest in art was cemented in stone and this began a long and successful career in art as well as other endeavors. Chenevert continued creating pencil sketches, most notably during the 1964 through 1965 school year when he was in fourth grade at Alexandria, Virginia. The interest in military subjects continued to grow with a great many of his sketches now centering around military battle scenes. These included operational scenes involving tanks and howitzer-type cannons. His first drawing was from a photograph but these works were from imagination and memory. He then began drawing Navy and civilian ships in pencil sketch. The following year found him in fifth grade and he made his first attempts at drawing people. His people subjects were initially drawn from those depicted in the films played in his French class. True to most artistic minds, Chenevert found himself more interested in teaching himself how to draw during class rather than paying attention to what was being taught by his teacher. Chenevert expanded his drawing of person subjects and created a sketch of the rock and roll group The Monkees. Chenevert believed this to be his best sketch at the time.

Chenevert, having mastered people sketching, took an interest in marine life and began drawing fish and other underwater creatures. He continued with his sketching of person subjects by drawing his various classroom teachers in a satirical style. While in third grade he took art classes but learned little from the basic teachings. However, by the time he was in eighth grade, he was taught how to paint using the watercolor medium. Chenevert was highly interested in this and was praised by his teachers as being very talented in this area of artistic expression. He created three exceptional watercolor paintings while in the class including one titled "The Road Well Taken," which was a dramatic and breathtaking painting of a country road lined with beautiful Fall trees and foliage. Chenevert's main artistic interest, however, would remain with the pencil sketching medium. By the early 1970s, he would discover what would become his lifelong subject of interest: aviation and more specifically airliner drawings.

Education
Chenevert attended college at Lynchburg Baptist College which is now Liberty University, at Lynchburg, Virginia, beginning in the fall of 1973. He completed two years of study and left the school in 1975. Chenevert became disillusioned with the teaching of the school and elected to follow in the footsteps of his Dad and pursue a military career. He enlisted in the US Air Force in September, 1975.

Chenevert would attend college in Orlando, Florida, at Valencia Community College beginning in 1994. Here Chenevert studied graphic design management and received his first formal training in pencil sketching. He also learned a critical lesson while at the school, that the right side of the brain commands artistic people. This was a lesson he would not forget and it enabled him to understand why he was able to draw his first drawing at the age of eight in 1963.

Military Service
Chenevert attended two years of higher education at Lyncburg Baptist College in Lynchburg, Virginia. He left the school at the end of the 1975 school year and then enlisted in the US Air Force in September. He was drawn to the Air Force because he had qualified to train as an Air Traffic Controller. Chenevert continued to be interested in his artistic endeavors but was now enticed by the possibility of a career in the field of aviation. The Air Force allowed him to pursue this career objective.

Chenevert remained in the Air Force until 1980 and then re-enlisted for a six year commitment. In 1977, Chenevert had realized that he was a gay person and had come to terms with his identity. He realized that he had been gay his entire life. However, in July 1980, the Air Force determined that Chenevert was "unsuitable for service or homosexual." He left the military and concentrated on his art. In 2010, he authored Aim High that chronicled his time in the military and its treatment of him as a result of him being a gay person.

Allegheny Airlines "Liberty Fare" 21 Day Trip


In September 1978, while in the US Air Force, Chenevert attempted to break the record of flying to the most cities within a short time period. Chenvert was hoping to fly on Allegheny Airlines taking advantage of their special Liberty Fare and then fly to 70 cities in 21 days. The record for flying to the most cities in 21 days, at the time, was 135. Chenevert hoped to try and break this record the following year by flying to 140 cities in in the 21 day time period.

In 1977, Chenevert had attempted to fly to the 70 cities in 21 days but after the 30th city he was called back home due to an emergency in his family that required him to cancel the remainder of the trips. For the 1978 attempt, Chenevert scheduled 123 flights to get him to the 70 cities. He spent every day of the 21 days traveling by air except for five. He traveled by day and slept at the airport overnight, where he would end each day.

In October 1980, Chenevert embarked on another 21 day trip. This time he flew Delta Airlines between the dates of October 2 through October 23, 1980, and flew a remarkable 169 flight segments during that short time period. He flew on four Delta aircraft types including the Boeing 727-200 on which he traveled on 109 times, followed by the Douglas DC-9-32, 42 times, Lockheed L-1011, 14 times, and Douglas DC-8-61, 4 times.

Aviation Art
In late 1970, Chenevert's father became a member of American Airlines Admiral's Club, which is a member's only club for the airline's frequent flyers. His dad took him to the Club at Washington National Airport on the weekends. Chenevert was impressed with the upscale dress requirement for attending the club and this formality incited his interest in aviation and airliner drawings. He made friends with the club's skipper who allowed him into the club without his father so he could work on his airliner sketches. The club overlooked the busy tarmac at Washington National which provided the perfect place for a young man to find plenty of airliner subjects to sketch.

In April 1971, Chenevert decided to transform his sketches into actual drawings. His first airliner drawing was, appropriately, an American Airlines Boeing 727-100 in departure configuration from Washington National Airport Runway 36. Once again, as he did with his first drawings in 1963, Chenevert drew the American 727 from a photograph that he remembered from the front page of a June 1965, issue of The Washington Post. The caption under the photograph was The Jets Come to Washington. The date of Chenevert's first airliner drawing was April 26, 1971.

Airliner sketches and drawings became the mainstay of Chenevert's artistic endeavors from 1971 through 1974. From his perch at the Admiral's Club at Washington National Airport he learned the differences between the many different types of airliners that flew in and out of the airport. Chenevert was drawing up to three airliners a day at this point and all were situated at the Washington National setting. During 1974 alone, created nearly two-thirds of his vast Collection of airliner drawings.

Chenevert would later draw the male physique and was exceptionally good at this recognized difficult art form. However, his love would always remain with airliner drawings and he dedicated his life to drawing this subject.

Author of Aim High 1971-1980


In 2003, Chenevert decided to author a book chronicling his life from 1971 through 1980 with an emphasis on his service in the US Air Force. The book took five years to complete and was published in early 2010.

He states in his book "At a young age, I learned that relocating frequently made it a formidable task for me to feel a sense of belonging. In the spring of 1971, however, that void was vanquished. This book discusses at length the remarkable transformation that I experienced for the nine years that followed. The vast amount of knowledge that I acquired during that time period was not gained in a classroom-it came by way of personal experience. The lessons that I learned have their roots in art, aviation, religion, air traffic control, drugs, sex, and rock and roll. Aim High is my true story of how all of these factors came to play prominent roles in my life; the journey begins on page one-fasten your seatbelts!"

Donation of Marc Y. Chenevert Aviation Art Collection
In mid 2013, Chenevert began looking for a repository to donate his vast airliner and art collection to for future generations to enjoy. With the help of Richard Cass, curator of the Braniff Flying Colors Collection and president of Braniff Preservation Group, in Dallas, Texas, Chenevert was introduced to Richard Grigg of the National Museum of Commercial Aviation in Atlanta, Georgia. The NMCA is the largest museum dedicated solely to the preservation of airline history in the United States. The museum was highly interested in Marc's aviation collection and in August 2013, museum representative Richard Grigg traveled to Chenevert's studio in Asheville, North Carolina to accept Chenevert's gift. The museum will also receive Chenevert's drawing desk and tools that he has used since the early 1970s.

Chenevert decided that he wanted his Braniff International Airways airliner drawings to be donated to the Braniff Flying Colors Collection in Dallas, Texas. In early September 2013, Chenevert donated the Braniff portion of his collection to Braniff Flying Colors. A planned Braniff Airways Museum in Dallas, Texas, will eventually house the Braniff Flying Colors Collection as well as the Chenevert Braniff Airways drawings.

Publications

 * Marc Young Chenevert. Aim High.  Xlibris Corporation, Bloomington, Indiana, January 29, 2010, Hardcover and Paperback ISBN 978-1441595317
 * Marc Young Chenevert. Vietnam Vs. Afghanistan.  Self Publication Social Media, June 21, 2011
 * Marc Young Chenevert. The Forgotten Veterans (Of Which I Am One).  Self Publication Social Media, 2009
 * Marc Young Chenevert. Airline Deregulation: Past, Present, and Future.  Valencia Community College, Orlando, Florida, 1994