About the Artist :: Gwen Nagel
Originally from the prairies of Minnesota, Gwen Nagel painted in oils as a teenager before beginning her formal study of art at the University of Minnesota. She switched majors as an undergraduate, however, eventually earning a B.A., an M.A., and a Ph.D. in English at Tufts University. She has published poems, non-fiction articles, and stories as well as scholarly pieces on such American writers as Hemingway, Styron, Anne Sexton, and the Maine writer Sarah Orne Jewett. Gwen taught writing and American Literature at Harvard Business School, Tufts, Bentley College, and the University of Georgia. She lived in the Boston area for twenty years, but on moving to Athens, Georgia, in 1991 she began to rekindle her love of painting. Since June of 1997 she has devoted herself full time to her art.
An artist friend in Maine introduced her to pastels and “plein air” painting a few years ago, and since then she has studied pastels with master pastellist Albert Handell of Santa Fe. She works in watercolor and oils as well and has taken workshops with many nationally known artists.
Gwen, a summer resident of Harrison, paints in her studio there, as well as, on location in the lake region and coastal Maine. Her work is in galleries in Maine; Knoxville, Tennessee; Cashiers, N.C.; and Athens, Georgia.