SEA BREEZE ART GALLERY & STUDIOS | RESIDENT ARTISTS

Vonder Gray Artist Statement I have always known I was a painter.  I see life in close up snapshots that end up as paintings.  When I was studying art at the Montserrat School of Visual art in Beverly Massachusetts, my paintings were dark and uncomfortable. I made a conscious decision at that time to do bright happy paintings that made me feel good doing them and made others feel good looking at them. Years later I entered what sometimes seemed like a lifetime of therapy and realized I had suffered from depression all my life. The happy paintings had been my therapy all this time!   A garden series of paintings helped me through an extremely difficult time of multiple deaths in my family; the life affirming aspect of gardens, the regeneration. Since coming to Ojai in Jan 2001, I have been painting fairly regularly, although missing a studio of my own until August of this year when I became one of the fabulous Sea Breeze Artists! I teach privately in peoples’ houses or in classes at Sea Breeze…my art has grown so much since coming to Sea Breeze….my new series, unveiled at this show is titled “Coming out of the Dark; A Compassionate Look at Fear and Sorrow” and refers to coming out of depression and all the various addictions that can happen in conjunction with depression. This is not a subject unique to me; these are universal subjects. The point isn’t to be autobiographical, but to speak on these subjects from my experience. Biography Ms. Gray is an award-winning artist/actor with an adventurous personality and an extremely colorful background. Originally from the East Coast, Ms. Gray and her family were well off financially, living on Long Island’s Gold Coast. Gloria Vanderbilt’s parents got married in her grandmother’s townhouse in NYC, The same house in which the movie, “House on 91st Street”, was made.  Ten years ago, she found herself divorced, living in New York City with .30 cents to her name.  Now in her 50s, Ms. Gray is doing with her life what most people do in their 20s and 30s – starting from the ground up financially and building her career in the arts. After living in New York and working mostly on stage Ms. Gray moved to Ojai in January 2001.  Here she continued her acting and started to paint more regularly.  In August of 2006 she became a Sea Breeze Resident Artists. She teaches painting classes at Sea Breeze Art Gallery and privately in peoples’ houses. She has performed at the Ojai Art Center Theater in “Ballyhoo” and “A Wife’s Tale”, a 1-woman show, reviewed in the Star; Theater 150- “’Night Mother” with Charlotte Bronstein, set design and producing at 150: “Dames to Duchesses” a reading series; stand-up comedy; and Vagina Monologues – 2002-5. Visit Vonder's website @ www.vondergray.com History | Resident Artists    Contact Sea Breeze Art Gallery for more information.