Biography

G e r t r u d e  H e n d r i c k s  P a l m e r
gertswerks@gmail.com

Early Years Late 1960's: As a teenager, her life size fashion sketches were featured in the windows of Carson Pirie Scott & Co. Chicago's Winnetka branch. After graduating from High School where she learned stone lithography under C. Levine, she moved to Eugene , Oregon where she found a fertile art community and was awarded the In Vivo Design Award for a collection of ethnic ski wear, the first fabricated in natural materials. After successfully designing a women's junior line that was released in the Seattle Market, the artist decided to refocus on stone lithography,and began studies at the University of Oregon. followed by a move to Southern Oregon University to study photo litho under Lyle Matouche (master printer for Karl Tobey) where she was awarded a scholarship and produced politcal and feminist works from 79 – 83, including Even Valentino Ate Apples, The Great American Playboy, A Not So Mad Housewife and Eclypso. Her professors at Southern Oregon University in Ashland liked her work well enough to purchase it. Here she also began what has become a life long study of  the figure, always working from live poses and using natural light. The artist founded and administered a broad campus exhibition program that included  seasonal festivals, international exhibits and workshops

1970's through 2011 Gert became a mother and traded the demands of lithography for the more direct painting. Working ala plein air she painted on location and ala prima during travels in the Caribbean, Mexico and North America. She felt“Many landscape artist paint pristine works where every blade of grass is accounted for and in its place. But the landscape is wild and full of movement. Dirt flies, birds disturb and everything is wild! The demands of working on location include distractions and discomfort, but we are rewarded with paintings that are full of life and story." She also continued creating figurative works often working from live poses from her 4 sons.

1998-2002 at the urging of a friend, she explored abstract impressionism at Chez Moi Studio on Tybee Island. Long an admirer of jazz violinist Stephan Grappelli, she painted a tribute with a silk thread Grappelli I and II, in which she sought to build up an ephemeral form with a very fine line. These works, like her figures and landscapes are approached ala prima and without plan. I trust a natural order to present itself and allow an organic evolution in which I feel I am a participant. Essentially I make elegant forms of these fluid expressions. Produced during this time: Patination, Flamingo, Chakras.

Throughout her forty years of painting, she returns often to the figure, initially in intuitive watercolor gestures, (a large collection of nudes, which described by illustrator , as world class) and narrative fantasies like Boots and Naked in the Garden Of Eden, whimsical fantasies painted without plan. Most recently the artist is working in oil and producing textile products that feature images of her paintings.

Embracing such broad subject and style is not a digression, the artist explains. I want the whole candy shop. Regardless of subject, you see my love of contrast and articulation balanced by the spirit of the subject. This imbues all of my work with powerful energy and allows an element of surprise and spiritual presence. A career that spans a lifetime is challenged by ever changing perceptions, which must be addressed in my painting. My work in abstract accelerates my progress with new mediums because I work without a plan. This affects my expression in more traditional subject, adding its influence to my figurative and landscape works.

You can see this effect in The Store, and Pritchard House. These paintings have neon line work that indicate energy lines animating, an otherwise sedate, low country scene. I believe this is what Van Gogh was perceiving. This approach was born in my abstract work in which I flood the support with India ink over organic lines that are then lifted as in Chakras. The influence of one genre or technique on another is illustrated again in my figurative work. Particularly in portraits which while demanding a good likeness, need animation because a portrait without life is a like a musical score without the flute.

2002- 2011: Palmer turned her figurative talents into a business called The Wedding Painter. She is present at events to capture the excitement on canvas.

2012-2013: The artist was awarded an Expansion Grant this year to apply portrait accuracy to Gullah themes.