Biography

Teri Gortmaker grew up on a farm in southeast Texas. To her family's surprise she left Texas (unheard of even today) to attend the University of Colorado, receiving her B.A. in 1970.  When her oldest daughter started pre-school she picked up a book by Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.  With very little money and a bit of free time she was off on an adventure that excites me just as much today as it did 20 years ago.  She  continued a more serious course of study at the newly established Art Students League of Denver.   As her skills grew so did her love of pastel.  Although she works in oil  from time to time  pastel remains her first choice. 

"My career has suffered from blank spaces over the years, as often happens with mothers, wives, and women in general.  But I have always come back to the place I am most comfortable and productive. . . painting in pastel and painting from life. I continue to take classes from artists I admire because there is always more to learn and a higher level to achieve."

She has been a member of  New York City's Pastel Society of America since 1993,  won awards and been juried into the  exhibitions of Salmagundi Artists, N.Y., Knickerbocker Artists, N.Y., International Association of Pastel Artists, and Scottsdale Artists School "Best and Brightest", among others.

2009 Juried Shows and projects