Gwendolyn Best

August 13-14 & 20-21

Furs, Feathers and Faces

Vernissage: August 12th,
6-8 pm

Paintings by Ellen Schowalter, Gwendolyn Best & Karol Partridge. Sculptures by Tommy Gaudette will fill the center of the room.

Gwendolyn Best was born in Montreal, but grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. She received her BSc (Arts) from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs (New York), in 1974.

Over the past sixteen years, Gwendolyn furthered her artistic training in drawing, painting and sculpture at the Rudolf Steiner Institute in Waterville (Maine), Poultney (Vermont), and Easton (Massachussetts).

She has exhibited in Canada and the U.S., and has received numerous commissions to paint murals in private homes, as well as in several Ottawa Waldorf schools.

Her commissions include signs for the McNabb Skatepark, the Au Grand Bois children's camp, Mexicali Rosa's restaurant, the Trilles des Bois Waldorf School in Vanier, as well as the Ottawa Waldorf School in Stittsville.

Since 2003, Gwendolyn has been responsible for the layout, illustrations and cover art at the Glebe Report. From 1996 to 1999, she provided the illustrations and cover art for the Ottawa Waldorf Association Newsletter.

Gwendolyn has taught drawing at the Glebe Community Centre since 2004, as well as watercolour and acrylic painting techniques. She has also taught art history to both adults and children at the Ottawa Waldorf School and the Parsival Waldorf School. In addition, she gives private art tutoring for individual clients.

Gwendolyn had avoided using black in her painting for many years, but now likes the abstract sign-like quality of a black figure on a simplified yet nuanced ground.

Her influences include Rudolf Steiner’s colour theory and the work of Francis Bacon, Edward Hopper and Charles Burchfield.

Gwendolyn likes to paint intensively, often for a whole day at a time, including well into the evening, without stopping.

Her studio is a light-filled room featuring one large window.

Her work is found in private collections throughout Canada, the U.S., England and Italy.

Mona, Gwendolyn Best

Winston, Gwendolyn Best

Gwendolyn Best

Artist contact: