Gary Frisk

I always knew I could draw. I started learning about art at an early age when visiting my grandmother, I would look in her art books and sit at her easel. She
oil painted like a master and I loved her work. As one of life’s ironies, I never took any lessons from her. I pursued a degree in engineering; however somewhere in my God given DNA, there was something that pressed me towards practicing art. My college notebooks are decorated with sketches of all types of subject matter and I have drawings and sketches that survived from high school.

In the fall of 2005, I took my first art class, Beginning Oil Painting, at the Glassell School of Art in Houston, Texas, as a way to spend time with my daughter.

After completing my study there, which comprised seven semesters of oil painting courses, I have continued to expand my oil painting theory and develop my skills by taking workshops from some of the nation’s most recognized and successful professional artists; V. Vaughan, C. W Mundy, Jeffrey C. Legg, Kathleen Dunphy, Stapleton Kearns, Ryan Brown, Phil Starke, and Joe Paquet. Predominantly en plein air.

I plein air paint often and enter plein air painting competitions to keep my skills sharp. I have earned many awards including best of shows and the “Museum Purchase Award” at the 2019 EnPleinAirTEXAS event. I recently earned two Outdoor Painters Society Awards; “Best Working Waterfront Award” at the 2024 Plein Air Southwest Painting Competition and “Best In Show” at the 2024 Plein Vision in Miniature Associate Members Exhibition.

I continue to keep putting in the mileage; the never ending pursuit of growth and improvement.