Gwen Voorhies was raised in Louisiana and spent her youth fishing and skiing the local bayous and lakes and learning about the beauty of the flowers, wildlife and surrounding landscape. Early buying trips to Jackson Square in New Orleans with her parents taught her to appreciate art and antiques and at age16 she began painting and was one of the fortunate individuals who quickly learned to capture the beauty of the world around her on paper and canvas.


Studying at Springhill College in Mobile, Alabama and in the College of Design at LSU and through private lessons with some noted Master artists, Gwen expanded her studies and became proficient in pen and ink, charcoal, watercolor, pastels, oils, and acrylics. Not content with mastering one subject she consistently switches from landscapes to still life, portraiture, or figures and has found that if you know the basics you can learn to paint or draw anything finding this extremely useful in her teaching.


The paintings and drawings speak for themselves. While many artists are content with painting one subject repeatedly or finding a gimmick to sell their work Gwen has worked hard to prove she can capture the beauty of the vanishing vistas around her and the emotionally charged connection between a father and his child. She often paints representational works from her own photographs and is seldom seen without a camera in her purse but can quickly capture a likeness from a live model.


Recently, Gwen became active in two organizations to promote the Arts in her hometown of New Iberia, the New Iberia Arts and Cultural Commission and the Iberia Cultural Resources Association. This past year she has been working hard to bring the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra to New Iberia and on March 4, 2007 her wish came true as the orchestra performed a free community concert outdoors in the city park. She also worked hard to establish the coordination of events the same weekend to create a Festival of the Arts in New Iberia.


You can see Gwen’s work at several area locations: Silver Gallery in the Jefferson Street Market, The Frameshop and Gallery 912, Heymann Performance Center, Lafayette Art Association, Hartien’s Inc., and Dr. John Theriot’s New Iberia Office as well as private collections locally and abroad.