Gayle Havercroft

I am a lifelong resident of Spokane. As I think back over my life, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in art. The first endeavor into art in my childhood memory is of doing a drawing of a stagecoach when I was probably around four years old. In my mind’s eye it was a masterpiece. Seeing it years later showed that it not very good.

As a child, I looked up to an uncle who was a good artist and oil painter, and I wanted to emulate him and be an artist. Art and music were always my favorite subjects in school. Going into high school I had to make the choice between the two and I chose to follow music (although I did take 2 years of architectural drafting to help fill my art fix).

I had the opportunity to go back into art in my early 30’s by going to SFCC in their fine arts program. Working, building a house, raising a growing family, raising livestock and just life in general, kept me from having time to get real serious with doing my art. So it has just been the last couple of years that I have chosen to be serious about it again.

Why I do realistic style of art:

The last name for my family is old English that means “small oat farm”. Though I’m the first generation not to truly grow up on the farm, there was enough of the rural roots left in my family that a rural lifestyle was something that I longed for. I’m not an overly sophisticated person, so I look at life through the eyes of what is solid, real and before me, so my art is a reflection of what I can see, touch and experience. Much of my art has rural, scenic and outdoor images. Weathered buildings particularly fascinate me with showing mankind’s struggles with time, the elements and age. The endless cycle of building up and falling down. Buildings also point back to my interest in architecture, and working in the facility maintenance field for the last 30 years.