Gary Coleman Hosts Open Studio May 20 And 21.

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April 16th, 2017 - San Jose, ca

Gary Coleman is a long-time Willow Glen resident and 4th generation Northern Californian who has participated in Silicon Valley Open Studio for the past 15 years, and will do so again this year on May 20 and 21, but this year is a little special, as he will celebrate his 80th birthday a couple weeks before SVOS.

Gary has been blessed in life. First of all he was not born into a land torn by war, and cursed with mass hunger and suffering. He was born so that his military service fell between the Korean and Vietnam wars, and he entered San Jose State when tuition was a little over $25 a semester. He paid all his college costs by working summers, sometimes as a relief milkman (remember those?).

Additionally, he was granted the opportunity to see virtually every country in Europe (East and West), the Middle East and Africa through a two year stint, carrying top secret materials, with the Department of State Diplomatic Courier Service. Most fortunately of all, after the Courier years, while living in Paris and studying art at the Beaux Arts during 1966, he met his beloved life's partner, Karoline, mother of his two children.

Returning to California he began a rewarding 30 year career teaching English and history, and serving as a guidance counselor, most of it at Leland High School. He also served two years at The International School of Brussels as guidance counselor. Brussels gave his kids their first taste of Europe and a chance to meet their relatives in the German Alps.

Gary’s California roots show in his landscape art, paintings of rhythmic rolling golden hills, dotted with oaks and bathed in warm color. Both his landscapes and his abstracts have been well received, affording him one-person shows at Pacific Art League of Palo Alto, Pacific Grove Art Center, Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts to mention a few. He has shown at numerous restaurants, and recently sold an entire collection to Noah’s Bar and Bistro in Morgan Hill.

Over the years he has won a good number of show prizes, the most recent being Best of Show for both the 2014 and 2016 Pacific Art League “All Abstract” annual shows.

Every year Gary looks forward to Open Studio. It gives him a chance to display, mostly in his spacious yard, all the work that he has in his home studio, and to talk with people interested in art. Artists love to show their work. The public should not worry about “intruding” on an event with no intention of buying anything. The worst thing that can happen to an artist is that no one comes to take a look.

Gary has two websites: www.gary-coleman.artistwebsites.com & www.garycolemanartist.com.