When Gracia Dayton drew all over her newly wallpapered room at age five, a creative spark ignited that sealed her fate as an artist. Throughout her childhood her ingenuity continued and with a passion for making art, she entered a constructive phase, fabricating her own dollhouse from an orange crate. She decorated the miniature rooms with her tiny paintings scaled to size and delighted in the clever, self-made project. Fortified with innate talent and an ability to fill her young world with hand-made creations, she never looked back after deciding to pursue a career as an artist.

Gracia grew-up in Belmont, Massachusetts, a residential suburb about seven miles west of Boston bordering Cambridge. After attending local schools in her hometown, Gracia left the Boston area to attend Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. There she majored in Art Education while continuing to develop her artistic skills, learning to navigate a variety of mediums including painting, drawing and printmaking.

After receiving her B.S. from Skidmore, Gracia was not content to end her studies in Fine Arts and continued her work by attending programs across the country at a number of prestigious schools including the California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco State University and Bennington College. She returned to the Boston area when she continued with additional artistic studies at Boston University and the DeCordova Museum School in Lincoln, Massachusetts where she developed an interest in printmaking.

For ten years, Gracia’s interest in printmaking flourished. Her printmaking days came to an abrupt halt, however, after injuring her back while using some of the heavy equipment in the studio. She was unable to continue further work in printmaking for several years after her injury, and at this point in her career, the artist was faced with the challenge of moving to an alternative medium. Capitalizing on her vast array of artistic talents, she decided to try her hand at watercolor.

While many artists find watercolor to be a terribly unforgiving medium due to the quick-drying water base, Gracia quickly developed a love for the immediacy of the process from start to finish and the abundant array of tonalities. She has gone on to build an impressive 30-year career mastering the watercolor medium by balancing artistic proficiency and perfected technique with vibrant spontaneity. Gracia begins each watercolor painting without an under-drawing, displaying the deft hand of a confident artist as she vigorously embraces the freedom of movement by applying thin veils of saturated color with bravura brushwork. Her lyrical landscapes are punctuated by elongated white birches that elegantly bend and bow across color-drenched surfaces with limbs as graceful as Edgar Degas’ ballet dancers. These landscapes beckon the viewer to identify recognizable elements in a sea of expressionistic abstraction. Each unique palette is an interwoven tapestry of rich jewel tones in gradations of sapphire blues, emerald greens, garnet reds and blazing topaz. Overall, these tonalities, inspired by climatic changes and the indigenous nature of her subject matter, radiate a warmth and glow celebrating nature’s glory.

Often inspired by recent travels to exotic places such as India and the Far East as well as her beloved mountaintop community in Haines Falls, New York, the bold yet sensitively rendered works are characterized by their brilliant, chromatically balanced palette and depth of composition. In a statement about her work, the artist comments: “Each series of work I do invariably relates to a place I have recently visited. Landscapes, colors, shapes and symbols are the sources I draw upon for inspiration from my travels. I usually start a series with direct landscapes in watercolor or acrylic and then move to collages and mixed media. The challenge is always to create pieces that are less literal and exciting to me in color, composition and materials.”

Venturing beyond the realm of the watercolor medium, Gracia has achieved noteworthy success with mixed media and collage. Abandoning paper for smaller, more intimate paintings on panel, the image becomes three dimensional with an impasto-like surface. Grooved layers of gel rise from the panel allowing paint to undulate in the tactile surface. The image is defined by large dabs of paint that are both spontaneously yet delicately applied. These paintings are expressive and complex works inspired by the artist’s personal experiences.

Gracia has always shared her artistic gifts with students, having taught both adult and children’s classes. Presently, she teaches the technique of producing monoprints and monotypes from her art studio in Lexington, Massachusetts. Additionally, she enjoys presenting the art of watercolor painting with tips and techniques for success. She is a member of the New England Watercolor Society and until recently, was president of this prestigious organization. During their recent show at Emmanuel Church in Boston, Gracia gave demonstrations to an audience eager to absorb the wisdom of a seasoned master painter.

This award-wining artist has amassed a list of achievements too lengthy to list here but among the highlights are: The Gold Medal at the New England Watercolor Show in Boston; First Prize at the New England Watercolor Society’s Regional Show, Concord, MA; First Prize at the Concord Art Association’s Graphics Prize Show; First Prize at the 52nd Annual Twilight Park Art Show, Haines Falls, NY; Prize winner at the Texas Watercolor National Exhibition. Gracia has also been commissioned by numerous corporations and hotels for her works, including Coca Cola and the Bostonian Hotel and The Sheraton Hotels in both Boston and Atlanta. She has even been asked to lend her talent to major poster campaigns such as the Boston World Cup Soccer Poster in 1995 and the Lexington, Massachusetts Bicentennial Poster.

Given the scope of Gracia’s accomplishments during a multi-faceted career packed with success, she has built allegiances with galleries anxious to show her work. The Harrison Gallery in Williamstown, Massachusetts has been a particularly successful partnership over the years and as the artist stated, “…it is a beautiful space to exhibit in.” This gallery will be featuring a solo show of her work this coming November. For 28 years, Gracia has also exhibited at the Depot Square Gallery in Lexington, a co-operative gallery she founded with nine other Boston area artists in 1981. Due to the recent economic downturn, however, they sadly had to close this space after years of collaborating in a joint partnership. Currently, Gracia is exhibiting at the Kergma Gallery in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She is delighted to be part of a theme show focused on cities and is pleased to be exhibiting a selection of monotypes in this show, all from her repertoire of abstract works.

This summer, Gracia Dayton will be showing at the Catskill Mountain Foundation (map)’s, Kaaterskill Fine Arts Gallery in Hunter, New York. The gallery is delighted to offer recent works by Gracia as part of a group show by selected local and regional talent. The show, titled Ripe Off the Vine: Curators’ Picks—A Bountiful Mix of New Works by Gallery Favorites and Inspiring New Talent, will run from June 20 through July 19. The opening reception is on Saturday, June 20 from 4 to 6 pm, at which time all are welcome to stop-by and meet Gracia as well as the other exceptional artists who will be featured. Don’t miss a wonderful opportunity to experience Gracia’s talent firsthand and maybe even find a work that will bring some of her magic back to your home!

For more information about Gracia Dayton, visit her Web site at www.graciadayton.com. For more information about the upcoming show at the Kaaterskill Fine Arts Gallery, please visit www.catskillmtn.org/events/exhibitions/index.html.