Gail is a native of northern Arizona. She has been doing artwork since she was too young to remember but began her sculpting career after a college professor told her that 3-d work was her “greatest talent” GAIL sculpts in bronze, sketches in pencil, creates silhouette designs, and sculpts bas and meso-relief sculptures. She is also talented writer.
A scant six years after beginning to sculpt in bronze GAIL completed an heroic-scale bronze in tribute to Arizona’s smallest Native tribe, the Yavapai. This had been her long-term goal as a sculptor.
Suddenly she felt disconnected and was left wondering what to do next.
“I put my Sedona house up for lease and went exploring America,” she laughs. “I bought a little log cabin on a lake near the Canadian border where there is still abundant wildlife and where I was privileged to study wolves and bears in the wild and see wolverines, otters, moose and more. After growing up in the Southwest I was so gratified to see that lush wilderness still exists. I started doing much more varied subject matter after that. I sold the Sedona house and built another log cabin in Payson in 1998.”
The bronze, “Trusting Nature” was born of the Northwood’s experience. “I had a lot of fun with this piece and it’s my tribute to the northern tier. I put in a salamander, monarch butterfly, snail, mushrooms, a squirrel and even a showy lady’s slipper flower along with the Sioux maiden. This is an historical piece and I found that I enjoy the research.”
Most of GAIL’s work has been of contemporary Western women. “As artists, we can best share with others our vision of what we know well. I grew up in northern Arizona in what some would call a ‘backwater’ where things were still done the old way. Sometimes I feel like a dinosaur because the way of life I have experienced is disappearing. The West has changed and Arizona is becoming a state with no distinct culture. This is what I seek to preserve. Others are doing Western art, but I have a slightly different slant in choosing contemporary subjects; people you might meet today and with the Western Women, I’m revealing ladies living life on their own terms, in their own way who have no idea that we are watching.”
Her artwork is represented at Down the Street Art Gallery in Payson, Echo Canyon Gallery in Flagstaff, and Estrella Fine Arts in Scottsdale.
Meet the artist and share her knowledge and enthusiasm: Feb. 15 at the Payson Art Leagues monthly meeting. Held at the Rim Country Health & Retirement Community, 807 W. Longhorn Road. Social time and show and share session at 6:30 p.m. Business meeting and presentation at 7 p.m.
The public is welcome.
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