Rhea Gary,
The paintings of Rhea Gary speak volumes about the vibrant beauty found in our diverse landscape.  She reminds us of the joy of looking at a cloud filled sky, the wonder of the changing seasons, and the beauty of a sunset reflecting on water. Her paintings of ordinary scenes are transformed with bold color and filled  with emotion, excitement, and energy.

Gary, a native of Louisiana, holds a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Fine Arts degrees from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge where she has lived and worked for many years.  Rhea has also studied at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts and with well-known American artists.  She has spent time traveling in Europe attending and teaching special programs for artists in France, Ireland, and Italy. [ continued ]

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For more than thirty years Rhea has captured the splendor and magnificence of the landscape, transforming the pristine beauty of the natural surroundings into dramatic color and form applied to canvas.  One cannot help but feel the artist’s affection and tender sense of appreciation for the scenery of this very fragile earthly paradise.  As worldly land and water meet heavenly sky, excitement and energy rises from the painted surface.

Rhea has devoted her time and art to bringing attention to vanishing wetlands. She developed a project called Marsh Mission. Collaborating with photographer C.C. Lockwood, they spent a year working in the marsh and swamp areas painting and photographing. They have developed a teaching CD which is being used by educators in classrooms across the United States. Her best selling book “Marsh Mission: Capturing the Vanishing Wetlands” was created from this experience. For two years an exhibition of these works created in the wetlands has been on tour to museums around the country.

Rhea has received numerous honors and awards for her work through exhibitions and juried shows across the country.  Her works are held in museum collections, in the Louisiana State Capital, Louisiana State University, and the American Embassies in Australia, Bahrain, Jordan, and Venezuela and in many individual and corporate collections. She is co-author with C.C. Lockwood of the popular book, “Marsh Mission, Capturing the Vanishing Wetlands”. Her work has been published in several magazines including Louisiana Life, American Artist, Art & Antiques, and numerous regional journals. She has been featured on television on CBS Sunday Mornings, Delta Hands, and Louisiana Public Broadcasting. She was recently voted “best painter” in the Best of 225 AWARDS by the readers of 225 Magazine, a publication of the Greater Baton Rouge Metropolitan Area. This widespread distribution of her work allows people everywhere to share in her joyful artistic statement of love for the places she paints.