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I was born in Miami, FL in 1980 to local printshop owner’s David and Jo-Anne Gardner. As a third generation printer I began learning about visual advertising at a young age. By the age of 18 I was working full time for the family business and going to school full time at the University of Miami. By 25 I had graduated UM with a major in management and a minor in marketing. While still in school, my father and I, with one additional partner created a branding and advertising company that deals in very high end design and print work.
Print media is visual as well as verbal way to get information to an individual. If you can’t get peoples attention with the visual art it is hard to get them to stop and take interest in the written
While still in school, I purchased my first house and found I was very put out by all the blank walls. After seeing the price of art and then of canvases and frames I realized I couldn’t afford to even paint my own paintings. I ended up buying the frame and began experimenting with painting directly to the glass. After a few attempts I began to develop some technique. I am presently using acrylics (metallic, fluorescent, and standard colors), latex paints and spray paint to create the final layers. The most complicated issue I face when producing a piece is that I am painting on the back of glass and am forced to layer the paint. After putting the second layer over the first, I am essentially working blind. My paintings at their simplest have a minimum of three layers.
Today I have a upgraded from thin glass in frames to ¼”, 3/8”, ½” glass that are either, square, round, assorted shapes and sizes. These abstract pieces can be hung unframed directly to the wall using mirror clips or an assortment of different ways. They can also be framed or used as table tops. I find that some of the most fun pieces to work on are old tables that I have purchased from the Salvation Army, renewing the bases and painting the glass. The benefits of a painted glass table, painted in my style are that you can never tell that the glass is dirty as well as being visually stimulating. My inspiration for painting table tops was my 2 year old daughter and her sticky fingers.
My subject matter varies with the piece of glass in front of me, the size and shape of the glass determines the subject matter I put on the glass. I originally started with tribal abstracts and began putting shapes such as flowers and hearts with wings, a card suit series, and I am beginning to work in abstract geometrics.
At present I am running two companies and I find my art to be a fantastic release at the end of the day to help me drain away the tension. I guess it is safe to say that I don’t sit still very well.
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