My academic background began at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, then to the University of California, Irvine, where I studied painting as a studio art major. My lifelong interest in archaeology led me to California State University, Los Angeles, where I combined a love of painting and drawing with an interest in archaeology to create a unique degree program. I was awarded a bachelors degree in Archaeological Illustration in 1978. This allowed me to remain an artist while participating in the archaeology field. From 1978 to 1991, my work as an onsite illustrator took me all over the world. This global perspective has been a great influence on my life and work.
My next major achievement was a solo show with RB Ravens Gallery, Taos, NM in 1993. In 1996, I produced a solo exhibition in Fremantle, West Australia, in conjunction with the Artist’s Foundation of West Australia in their public space, the Moore’s Building. Titled Paintings of Multicultural Dance and Ritual, the work was about “aboriginal dance”. To me that didn’t mean just indigenous people; it was any spontaneous, gut level response to music or rhythm that I saw – a theme that continues today. In both my figurative and landscape paintings, whether painted on canvas or board, my goal is the interpretation of movement, light colour and passion in the music, dance or landscape. My work helps the viewer be drawn into the emotionally charged atmosphere, living the landscape, the music and the musician’s passion.
Duncan R. Miller Fine Arts became interested in work I produced while on my first painting trip, autumn 1998, to Glenfinnan, Scotland. I have shown each year with the gallery since then. In 1999, I began Waltz Across Texas, a study of Dance Inside the Historic Dance halls of Texas, (WAT) at the request of RB Ravens Gallery, Taos, NM. A preview exhibition of the work was held at the Texas state capitol by then first lady of Texas, Laura Bush. New Braunfels Museum of Art and Music’s inaugural exhibition, WAT in its entirety in conjunction with Dance Halls and Last Calls, opened May, 2003.
I have spent the past twelve years living and working in Glenfinnan, Scotland. Painting the musicians, the ceilidhs, and the landscape that carries so much of the Scots’ passion for life. CEILIDH! has now been exhibited at the Scottish Parliament, at a charity exhibition for Mercy Ships at Kinfauns Castle, at Paisley Museum of Art, and most recently, at Radio France in Paris. I have also produced a solo charity exhibition for Mary’s Meals and Mercy ships at Arisaig House, which included CEILIDH! and Lochaber landscapes.
In the past few years, my interest in new places has surfaced again, and while I continue to enjoy painting ceilidhs and landscapes in Scotland, I have begun to explore new territory. So far, Tenerife, the French coast, and now Morocco have captured my imagination! And now, Waltz Across Texas has once again surfaced because of commissions, and I am currently in Texas, painting from that series, finding the passionate connection between a cowboy and his working horse, and exploring the West Texas landscape around Palo Pinto.
Website
http://www.gailwendorf.co.uk
