Gretchen Warsen

BIOGRAPHY

I grew up in an old farm house at the end of a dirt road in Swanville, Maine—a mostly-untouched, rural environment perfect for observing and exploring. I was so fortunate and blessed that there was no lack of creativity in my extended family and all forms of artistic expression were encouraged and supported. My parents (as true back-to-the-landers) even transformed an old chicken barn on our property into an alternative-education school where I don’t really remember doing anything other than sledding, making paper valentines, listening to my teacher read out loud, and climbing trees with my friends. As a teenager, I worked hard to be a “normal public school kid” but the happy little weirdo side of me was persistent and after a year as a music major at Bates College, my piano teacher suggested perhaps I would be happier in the visual art program (I didn’t like practicing). I began painting abstractly during a semester abroad at Tyler School of Art in Rome and was hooked. Years later, I left a graphic design job to funnel most of my creative energy into being a full-time mom to two wonderful girls (they are in college now!) When they started school full time, I decided to paint professionally and now I work in my messy-but-active art studio in the back room of our house in Massachusetts.

EDUCATION:

Bates College, B.A., Studio Art, 1996

Temple University, Tyler School of Art, Spring Semester Abroad in Rome, 1995