District Chapter 109
Metro Washington DC
Gallery: Gloria Callahan www.gloriacallahan.com
Reflections of the Savannah P.D.
19 in x 13 in
Currants and Cream
11 in x 14 in
Pikes Place Peppers
20 in x 8 in
Reflecting on Lunch in Sienna
24 in x 18 in
Winery at Diavoli
16 in x 20 in
Pomegranate Still Life
12 in x 16 in
BIOGRAPHY Like many artists her love of art started in childhood. Gloria worked in the accounting field for more than 20 years before turning to art as a full time profession. During that time she had been working on the side in decorative, mural and faux painting. Wanting a career change, in midlife she taught herself watercolor skills in order to become a contract colorist for a major art print company. For eight years Gloria worked doing hand colored antique reproduction engravings for Old World Prints, LTD and they have licensed many of her original works and sell her prints. All the while she strived to educate herself in drawing techniques with an emphasis on botanical and portrait art in her free time, leading to the discovery of colored pencil as a media. Falling in love with the control, detail, and realism that can be achieved with this medium. She now works full time producing her own art and teaching.
Gloria has shown her vibrant colored pencil paintings both Nationally and Internationally as well as around the state of Virginia. As well as a member of the DC Chapter she is a member of the National Colored Pencil Society, the American Artists Professional League and locally as a member of the Bon Air Artists Association, in Richmond VA, where she is the Treasurer and co-chair of the Art Affair committee. Gloria is represented at the Crossroads Art Center in Richmond, where she is an artist in residence. She teaches locally and has taught as a workshop presenter at the PA Art Educators Conference, in Malvern, PA.
Her art work has been selected for publication in the Best of Worldwide Charcoal, Pastel and Pencil Vol. 1 by Kennedy Publishing in 2010 and was selected for publication in the 2009 Scribbletalk.com Annual Calendar, by the online membership and winning various awards in many of the juried shows she has been accepted. Although Gloria has worked in many mediums; fiber, ceramics, murals, acrylic, pastel, watercolor and her most loved, colored pencil. It is colored pencil where she finds the most joy and is at ease with the process of making art.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT Pulling from the beauty in my own back yard, and travels abroad my goal is to provide the oasis we all need in our hectic lives. I find the drama of the extreme lighting in late afternoon to be the most intriguing ingredient for my paintings. The luminescent color of the light through the blossom strikes me with the passion to capture it in my paintings. I use various tools borrowed from the experience I’ve gained from my other media to enhance what can be done with colored pencil. I find the works of the old masters and many of today's contemporary artists continually influence my art. I feel compelled to educate others and gain respect in fine art for the colored pencil medium.
