Artist of the month: Santa Rosa’s Gale McKee
Growing up, Gale McKee knew her options.
Nurse. Teacher. Secretary.
It’s not that she dislike those options. It’s just that they didn’t inspire her.
“But you know. We were the Baby Boomer group,” McKee said. “And that’s what they said we could be.”
While she almost became an art teacher – making the decision to leave teaching during her senior year of college -- McKee had something else in mind.
“I was always drawing and painting,” McKee said. “And while I understand the satisfaction when you can reach one student, which I did; one out of 100 students wasn’t enough for me.”
She paved her own lane in advertising as an art director.
“I worked in all different fields,” McKee said of her time in ad agencies.
She found her niche, however, working as a designer for Pottery Barn Kids.
“It was the epitome of a perfect job. I began the year they started and got to work on the prototypes,” McKee said.
McKee’s specific department worked on decorative accessories, games, seasonal tableware and more.
“I got to do everything,” she said. “I was always doing stuff for Pottery Barn in my studio, with big prototypes. It would get messy.”
At the time, McKee’s studio was in San Rafael, where she also kept her painting skills honed. McKee is a fourth generation San Franciscan but grew up in Marin County.
“I was in Marin when you could pet the cows during recess,” she said. She only recently moved to Sonoma County, to settle into Spring Lake Village.
That hasn’t stopped her painting.
“I do so many different things,” McKee said.
Her current project includes paintings of vintage people with pets. It’s a follow-up project of sorts that’s she’s exploring.
“The last vintage series was by accident,” McKee said. “I went to a flea market and went through a shoe box and found photos of people with their vintage cars. And they were so happy. These photos told such stories.”
Storytelling is an active part of McKee’s work.
“I’m a narrative person. I like to tell stories and my art? It has to tell a story,” she said.
Over the course of the past 20 years, McKee has been in more than 50 juried solo or group exhibitions in galleries across Northern California, including Triton Museum of Art, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Bedford Gallery, Icehouse Gallery, Atrium Gallery, and Gallery Route One. She has won many competitions and received numerous awards. Her art style uses acrylic on canvas or raw linen and features bright, bold colors.
“I love color,” McKee said. “It’s surprising how many people are afraid of it. Like, you look at things right now. Everything is beige.”
Orange is her favorite.
“It’s cheap and cheerful,” she said. “It’s not typical and it’s happy.”
Color is a character in McKee’s Year of Colorful Women, a series of 12 paintings featured on her website, galesmckee.com. “Rescue,” featured on the March 2021 edition of the Sonoma County Gazette is part of a calendar, McKee said.
“These women. They tell a story,” McKee said.
Learn more about McKee’s story and her artwork by visiting her portfolio. And don’t miss ‘Rescue’ on the cover of the March issue of the Sonoma County Gazette.
