Artist Statement
“I started drawing around age two. I would see my mother draw and paint—in her dramatic, graphic way (as she had watched her father before her). I would make up stories about a duck, drawing and narrating each scene, flipping the easel paper over for the next scene. When I began school, I would illustrate my story assignments before they became all words. Art was my life-long hobby. Writing, and teaching writing, became my profession. They switched positions when I retired from teaching.
In both, I was, and am, concerned with where the subject was/is going—be it a person, plant, or landscape. How can I help convey this? It’s an on-going question. Sometimes, I address this more exclusively through emotion, as in my abstracts. Occasionally, I am quite literal in my details. I prefer the in-between, letting my viewer’s imagination complete the picture.
I’m drawn to the movement and surprises of watercolor. I want my art to help us appreciate ourselves and others, and what’s around us. I try to show how I see this now, or, at times, as how I imagine it was. I look for understanding, and for hope.”
New Brunswick Art Salon 2026 – Watercolor and Mixed Media “Liquid Layers” Exhibition
Untitled
"Leek Water"
"Green Corner"
"Distraction of a Bow"
New Brunswick Art Salon 2025 – Watercolor and Mixed Media “Between Stillness and Surge” Exhibition
Education
Salmagundi, New York, NY | Painting, 2018–present
Cooper Union, New York, NY | Abstract Watercolor, Fall 2016, Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Summer 2024
Art at the Mill, with Doris Ettlinger | Watercolor, 2014–present
Minerva’s Spring Street Studio, NY Foundation for the Arts | Life Drawing, 2013–present
Herzfeld School of Art, Wiesbaden, Germany | Old Masters Technique, 1972–1976; Gold Star Award for Excellence in Wet Technique
Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York | Communications; courses in figure drawing and painting, AAS, 1960
Awards
2025 — Honorable Mention, Lifetime Dedication, New Brunswick Salon
2024 — Light Blue Ribbon (Honorable Mention), Photography, Trestle (N.J.), Tewksbury Historical Society Art Show
2023 — Light Blue Ribbon (Honorable Mention), Photography, Two Boys on a Log, Tewksbury Historical Society Art Show
2022 — Blue Ribbon (First Place), Photography, The Time is Now: Lockdown in SoHo, 2020, Warren County Arts Spring Show
Group Exhibitions
Red Bluff Gallery, Red Bluff, CA. 3-D Virtual “Flora and Fauna” Exhibit, July 23, 2026–July 27, 2027.
3-D Virtual “Flowers for Peace and Posterity Exhibition,” Spring 2025.
3-D Virtual “ABSTRACT Expressions Exhibition,” September 2022.
Alfa Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ. “Between Stillness and Surge” NBAS Watercolor and Mixed Media Exhibition, November 4, 2025–January 10, 2026.
The Firefly Artists, Northport, NY. “Works on Paper,” August 2024.
Contact:
Website: gailwoodmiller.com