Paintings by Gale

Paintings by Gale

About the Artist

Gale Shamblott began her artistic journey at the age of five, participating in local art competitions and juried exhibitions throughout her childhood. At sixteen, she sold her first painting, marking an early milestone in a career shaped by creativity, experimentation, and a passion for artistic expression. She continued her formal studies at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts in Minneapolis, Minnesota, earning numerous awards and honors along the way.

In addition to her own creative practice, Gale has shared her love of art as an instructor, teaching children and adults of all ages. Her work has evolved from clown portraits to the contemporary imagery, hand-built clay pieces, glasswork, and jewelry she creates today. Through an expressive exploration of color, movement, and form, her work invites viewers to engage their imaginations and discover personal meaning in each piece. Open to interpretation, her work reveals new possibilities and perspectives with each encounter.

Exhibitions & Honors 

COCO Art Gallery, Naples, Florida
Art Resources, Minneapolis, Minnesota  
One Woman Show, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, Minnesota
Mid-American Art Brokers, St Louis, Missouri
Minneapolis Jewish Community Center
Accessories, Hopkins, Minnesota
Juried Art Show, Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Minnetonka, Minnesota               
Studio Art and Frame, Plymouth, Minnesota
Interior Resources/Art Holdings, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Women’s Show, University of Minnesota
Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, Iowa
Salon Soiree, Sioux City, Iowa
Department of Interiors, Sioux City, Iowa
Bell Book and Candle, Sioux City, Iowa
Dakota Gallery, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Perry Berns Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Lewis Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Juried Fine Arts Show, Minnesota State Fair, St Paul, Minnesota
Three Woman Art Show, Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Minnetonka, Minnesota
Stephen Houghland Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota
American Contemporary Artists, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Paul Albert Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Anderson Art Advisory, Minneapolis, Minnesota
MJL Impressions Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Scholes Fine Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Le Poudre Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Roche Bobois Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Current Representation

In the News

Harnessing the Creativity

When people ask artist Gale Shamblott how long it takes to create a prize-winning painting, she doesn’t hesitate. “It takes a lifetime,” says the new Siouxland resident who received the Juror’s Award in the Sioux City Art Center’s annual juried exhibition, Local Perspectives.

The St. Paul, Minn., native isn’t being glib. Creative expression, she explains, brings the artist’s entire experience to the canvas, including years of exploring, risk-taking and discovering.

“If you look at it that way, it truly does take a lifetime to do one piece,” says the mother of two grown children. For Shamblott, there has never been a time when she hasn’t been creatively engaged. As a young child, she favored tablets, crayons and paints, over dolls and trucks. “I loved making up games, then creating game boards to play them.”

Thanks to her parents and teachers who encouraged her creativity, Shamblott was selling work by the time she was a teen-ager. Her first sales were a painting of a clown and a nude done in charcoal on a newspaper classified section.

“As far as my training, I’m really self taught. I grow from one piece to the next,” says the artist who attended The University of Minnesota.

The Search Begins 

Visitors to her Dakota Dunes home can see how Shamblott’s art has matured from her early realistic work. Her affinity for nature is evident; and her feelings for strong rhythm and color comes through in her paintings and clay sculptures.

“I started out with extremely realistic work - but as I started feeling a little stagnant, I searched for something more. I started thinking, doing, and experimenting.”  Her work moved decidedly to the abstract before arriving at her present style which treats realistic forms in an abstract way. “I pull images from everywhere around me. I soak it all up - but my work all comes from within me. I don’t take pictures and then come home and paint.”

Shamblott’s winning painting, “On The Lighter Side Of Life,” was among 149 entries considered for The Art Center’s exhibition. The piece is one of a series of paintings inspired by a trip the artist took to Mazatlan, Mexico, with her husband, Soren, and children Lori and Jay. Shamblott was struck by the beauty of the rugged beach with its majestic hills and cliffs.

What’s In A Name? 

The series wasn’t the artist’s first work inspired by travel. Whenever the family returned home from a vacation, Shamblott encouraged her young children to put their impressions on canvas. She never pushed to make artists of Lori, now a Minneapolis advertising specialist, or Jay, who’s majoring in sports management at The University of Kansas. Rather, she wanted to stimulate their minds and bring expression to life’s experiences.

“It was very important to me to expose them to art and always make it available to them. I think they are more in touch with their feelings, and more sensitive to others because of it,” says Shamblott who taught art at her children’s grade school when it lacked an art program.

The family also got involved in the creative process when it came to titling the artist’s work. “Titling a piece has always been hard for me, because it has to fit the piece just right. Many times, my kids would come in when I was struggling with titling a painting and they helped.”

Also prominent in the life of the artist was her mentor, a woman whom Shamblott me at an artist’s studio in the Twin Cities. An early piece of advice the artist was offered was “Leave your brain outside when you are working.” That directive helped Shamblott tune out the world when she got down to painting. She began a routine of slipping on a headset, playing top-40 tunes and letting herself go.

The studio experience was essential to the artist’s development. It offered her a place to be with other artists who challenged, encouraged and stimulated her. The studio had begun as a dream, with women artists gathering at one another’s homes, and grew into the Minnetonka Center for the Arts. “It’s a marvelous facility because artists work there - they see each other grow.”

Paint Them And … 

Shamblott’s work grew and became recognized in the Twin Cities. Today, her paintings hang in the IDS Center, the Minneapolis Convention Center, and a number of Twin Cities businesses and professional offices.

“I’m really of the belief that my paintings paint themselves - I’m the paintbrush.” The paintbrush is as busy as ever since the Shamblott’s moved to Siouxland due to Soren’s work. The artist looks at painting and other creative pursuits as a life-long process of discovery. Unlike other professions from which people retire, “Art only gets more interesting with each day,” says the artist. 

Juror's Statement

As an artist, educator, and now gallery director, I understand the extreme importance and purpose of exhibitions such as this one.  Communities need to be aware of the richness and diversity to be found within their own regions. Local Perspectives, in its second year, has successfully drawn out a wonderful cross section of the working artists in this vicinity. Considering the work entered for this show, it is evident there is a strong presence of artistic creativity here in Siouxland.

Fifty-seven artists submitted one hundred and forty-nine artworks, encompassing both traditional and experimental methods that span all types of two- and three-dimensional art. In order to assemble a solid exhibition, I selected pieces using basically three criterion. First, I allowed the initial visual sensations to affect me; then I concentrated on the idea and content; and third, I felt it necessary to take into consideration the execution and craftsmanship of the individual works.

Three pieces in particular not only met all of these criterion, but in my opinion, excelled. One memorable painting, this year’s recipient of the Juror’s Award, is Gale Shamblott’s On The Lighter Side Of Life which effectively presents simple shapes and exciting color, suiting its title well. 

I applaud both the Sioux City Art Center and the Siouxland community for the quality and intensity of their commitment to the visual arts. Everyone involved should feel proud of their community for its efforts to promote and encourage fine arts on a local level. I would also encourage those artists whose works were not selected for this exhibition to continue creating and pursing entrance into this annual show and others. I feel confident this area will maintain the standard of excellence shown here and grow even stronger as a culturally rich community.

Contact