After attending the Washington University School of Fine Arts in St. Louis, Mo. (1933-34) and the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles (1936), McChesney moved to San Francisco and obtained a job with the WPA Art Project working on two federal building murals for the world’s fair in 1939. McChesney had his first solo exhibition in 1944 at the Raymond & Raymond Gallery, a collection of watercolors and drawings. With southwestern influences, indigenous flavors and earthy colors, McChesney’s abstracted watercolors and paintings reflect a predetermined clarity of design and tone. McChesney’s most celebrated works, those of his Arena series, executed during his tenure at California State University, Hayward (1958-62), incorporate sand and enamel and drew inspiration from the artist’s love of wilderness and solitude. Arena No. 29 was chosen for first prize in the San Francisco Art Associations Annual in 1960, by Lloyd Goodrich of the Whitney Museum of American Art. McChesney was active in Bay Area Abstract Expressionist movement after World War II, despite not having attended the California School of Fine Arts he brought renewed energy to symbolism and surrealism to the San Francisco scene.

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