Enjoy this amazing story from St. Louis, Missouri! Thank you Lamerol!
“My name is Lamerol A. Gatewood and I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. All of my formal education was completed in the Midwest. I attended University City High in University City, MO. For college I attended Lindenwood University, St. Charles, MO earning a BFA in studio art, and at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, I received a MFA in Painting and Lithography.
I was born to be creative, it is my life style, living and working in Brooklyn, NY, I am living my dream. Having the opportunity to travel abroad and throughout the US, I have a great life style. What’s most important is that I have something positive to say through my art.
Lately I’ve been advancing my creative process through collage making the drawings, paintings, collages, I call “The Energy Series”. It’s a conceptual approach that merges my signature abstract works with mixed media. Through this method, I am able to depict a painting with figures or adjoin a drawing with alluring line movement using several mediums to create a whole “collage.” Materials for each collage may include a combination of various mediums: Charcoal, Chalk Pastel, Oil Pastel, Acrylic Paint, and Oil Sticks.
Through my collage process, I can create multiple images in an unlimited manner. I am able to explore different and new art styles while incorporating elements of my past work using charcoal vines, chalk pastels, glitters, interference colors, acrylic paints and oil sticks. The individual panels represent a single drawing, a single chalk pastel, and/or an image with glitter or oil stick. When I have completed the drawings and paintings, I combine them to make “a whole.” The combined panels are now free to be conceived as a new visual work of art.
Inspiration? Waking up every morning is an inspiration! I have life- the energy to think and be creative. People who know me know I support the arts, writers, theatre, musicians, and visual artists. I aspire to help other young people and move forward. This is what gives me inspiration.
The hardest or most difficult times were when I worked for the New York public school system as an art instructor- not having enough time to be creative, and having all these ideas without being able to implement the creative process. That said, l loved teaching art, and I still hear from my students from time to time. The best moments however, are right now! I retired from the Board of Education a few years back and I work everyday as a creative artist – thinker. I have been in two group shows this year, one in Washington, DC and the other in Troy, NY. This was all made possible through the support of my community, friends, art team, and most importantly my family who has always supported me.”
