About the Artist
Watch Gail Wegodsky speak about her work on the occasion of her solo exhibition at the La Grange Museum of Art in 2019.
Gail Wegodsky at the Marietta Cobb Museum next to her painting “Grand Third Floor Library”, which won the FIRST PRIZE.
Summer 2020.
Curious by nature, Gail Wegodsky often includes in her highly realistic, photo-informed oil paintings unexpected situations that tease the viewer’s inquisitive interest; such as figures at a distant window, a woman holding an ambiguous letter, or subtle reflections in a soap bubble that cause the viewer to wonder, “what’s the story here?” Her recent paintings of books and libraries are influenced by openness to learning and the delight of reading. Wisdom within books and periodicals scratches her itch to understand how the world works. In this age when truth seems so elastic it can be stretched to include any belief no matter how implausible, libraries are quiet, protective, calm, sane sanctuaries guarding humanity’s shared wisdom and logic — and the visual abundance of zillions of multicolored books gives the painter’s eyes a thrill. Wegodsky’s patience to employ a meticulous painting technique and close observation further enhance her work.
Wegodsky was born in Charlotte, NC in 1955. She received a BFA from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore (1979) and an MFA from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia (1982). Over her career she has won New American Paintings Open Studios Competition, been awarded an Individual Artist’s Grant by the Georgia Council for the Arts and been honored as one of Artist’s Magazine’s Artists of the month with a Competition Spotlight Article. She won Art Renewal Center’s Chairman’s Choice Award in the 2023 Salon! Wegodsky’s work is in the permanent collections of The LaGrange Art Museum, The Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, IN; Temple U. School of Law, and the Law Offices of King and Spalding. She has presented solo exhibitions at the LaGrange Art Museum, GA, Oglethorpe University Museum, Atlanta, and the Greenville County Museum of Art, SC.
Gail Wegodsky lives and works in Atlanta.