Even when he stepped away from his canvas, Larry James Dailey often was preoccupied with art. If he saw a grandchild drawing a picture of a puppy with the simplest design–some circles and triangles thrown in with a tail–he had to draw the real thing with intricate lines, said his daughter, Lori Parrett-Rice. Or, if she was vacationing and Mr. Dailey stayed home, he would ask her to photograph trees and other vegetation so he could incorporate those images into his pieces, said his daughter. “It was just part of who he was,” she said. “He liked to pay attention to the detail in the world, and express it in his art.” Mr. Dailey, 55, assistant curator for two decades at the DuSable Museum of African American History, and a versatile artist who created art pieces around African and African-American themes, died of cancer Saturday, Aug. 14, in his home in Chicago. Mr. Dailey grew up in the Ida B. Wells public housing complex and discovered at DuSable High School that he wanted to be an artist. He had the support of two mentors who spearheaded a movement to encourage the arts among black people: Ramon B. Price, former curator of the DuSable Museum, who helped the young Dailey win a $10,000 scholarship to attend the Art Institute of Chicago; and Margaret Burroughs, the museum’s founder . Mr. Dailey received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the Art Institute in 1973. He went on to teach in the city’s public schools before becoming a full-time artist in the early 1980s, said Theresa Christopher, a museum colleague. Other survivors include his mother, Evelyn; his former wife, Alice Sanders; a stepson, Anthony Dailey; two brothers, Harry and Willie; a sister, Gloria; a half sister, Jean; and four grandchildren. A wake will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, with services at 11 a.m., in the South Park Baptist Church, 3722 S. King Drive, Chicago.
