YMCA Community Gallery displays watercolors by Gail Basner
The North Suburban YMCA will welcome local artist Gail Basner in December for the final monthly exhibit of 2018 in the Y's Community Gallery.
A wide selection of her watercolors depicting Chicago landmarks and other subjects will be available for purchase, with a portion of proceeds supporting visual arts programs at the Y.
Gail Basner is a native of the Chicago area and was born and raised in a family of artists. Her father was a designer and engraver of decorative fine hardware, and her mother was an accomplished artist in oils. Basner attended classes at the Art Institute of Chicago as a child and majored in art throughout her formal education.
After retirement in 1997, she has thrown herself into her passion for watercolors. Basner has studied since 1997 with Dan Capobianco and has attended workshops with Lenox Wallace, Tom Lynch, Terry Madden and others.
She is a member of the The Art Center in Highland Park, the Wilmette Arts Guild, and the Glenview Art League. She has shown her work to the public in juried art fairs in the North Shore and Northwest suburbs of Chicago. She was commissioned to develop artwork that was used in promotional mailings in her hometown of Highland Park.
Basner finds watercolor to be an exciting medium that inspires her to paint everything of beauty, resulting in a diverse array of subjects in her work. Her Chicago series includes nearly 40 famous and favorite landmarks that highlight the beauty of the city and demonstrate why it is a special place to live and visit.
Her love of children, animals and architecture is captured in her paintings, and her commissioned portraits of families, pets, homes and businesses are in many private collections.
The North Suburban YMCA's Community Gallery supports the local arts community by presenting free public exhibitions of work by artists from the Northern suburbs. The Y also offers a variety of art classes and studio space available to all ages.
The YMCA is celebrating its 50th anniversary with the launch of new water safety initiatives, health and wellness programs, and other expanded services to the community. For more information, visit NSYMCA.org.