It may be said that no matter how long or well you know somebody, you may only finally know their story in passing, when the arc of a life is finally struck. 

Gary to the end was deeply passionate, deeply knowledgeable and articulate about art, a working master. But he was not born to it.  He started like so many of us, a drifter in his 20s with no chops, only his passion to learn. But he found solid training at the Art Students League and Ecole de Beaux Arts. He also found incredible support in the form of a partner, Pamela Belyea, who was willing to not only get on the train but help build the tracks. 

When they came to Seattle in the 1990s, there was nothing like the Academy of Realist Art in the region. It became a mecca for many of us disaffected from the dominant conversation in art. And when it became clear that the bucket of realism was too small to contain the interests of those gathered, Realist begat Fine and Fine begat Gage. A few classes a year became a few hundred. Two rooms became two campuses. 

Gary’s voracious interests and infectious enthusiasm are in the DNA of Gage. He was the chief visionary of an art school grounded in seeing, built around technical excellence, with no house style but a passion for exploration and growth, pushing the boundaries of representation into poetry.  He built community around art making, inviting any who aspire to explore art of the more representational sort.  

His publications, including hundreds of reviews, interviews and obituaries of artists were invariably insightful and empathetic. His book on facial expression made clear a world of complexity, became a bible for artists, game designers and Hollywood.   

As an artist, Gary was prodigious, he had a daily studio practice.  He was inevitably sketching in a meeting when you thought he was taking notes. Drawings uncountable, literally thousands of paintings. The paint is rich, the forms chunky, the colors saturated, the subjects both mundane and metaphorical, full of tension and movement: Houses, Trains, vases, lots of vases. The final paintings on his easel are among the most haunting: Suburban houses on alien worlds like a Starman coming home. 

While no single line can encompass the arc of a life, some themes are clear. I believe Gary was someone who fervently wanted to be the best artist he could be and in learning how to do that, taught generations.  

Mike Magrath, Faculty Chair 
​​​​​​​Director Magrath Sculpture Atelier
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