Gwen Nagel
Athens, GA

artist email: gnagel@mindspring.com

     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, however, eventually earning a Ph.D. in English at Tufts University. She has published scholarly pieces on 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 and has taken workshops in oil and watercolor with many nationally known artists.

     Gwen is a member of the Plein Air Painters of the South East (PAP-SE) and the Plein Air Painters of Georgia, but she also spends her summers in Maine where she paints on location in the western lakes region as well as the coast. Her work is in galleries in Maine; Cashiers, N.C.; and Athens and Watkinsville, Georgia.