Series of Paintings and Mixed Media on World War II, Image: Green Beach, acrylic on canvas

by Beverly Gimlin

On January 6, 2021, Beverly Joyce Gimlin passed away in Portland, Oregon, with dignity and grace after a hard-fought battle with leukemia. Beverly was born December 5, 1954, in DeQueen, Arkansas; she graduated from Carnegie High School in Carnegie, Oklahoma, in 1973. She graduated with a Bachelor of arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a master's degree of arts with honors from California College of Arts.

Beverly found her home on the west coast, living most of her life in California, Washington, and Oregon. She was a creative, talented, and accomplished artist who had art exhibits in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle, to name a few. She left this world a better place because of her artwork and her active role in society. She was very passionate and supportive of women's rights and all people's rights to live their lives free from sexism and racism. She was a very fun-loving, compassionate, independent person who believed in herself.

Artist Statement

My father fought in the European theater during W.W.II, fighting in Africa, Sicily, France and Germany.  My mother was a teenager during the bombing of Britain and joined the British Royal Navy when she was eighteen.  My father didn’t talk much about the war when I was growing up, as many of his generation did not.  This series of paintings are influenced by historical research and first-hand accounts of the war by those who were there, and an attempt to trace my father’s steps to learn more about his life as a soldier. 

This work is divided into three series of investigation.  I make paintings that are “visual quotes” - that is landscape abstractions based on visual descriptions of the war by those who were there.   The second series are mixed media pieces that reflect my interest in, or my reaction to specific historical events, or ideas specifically involving my family.  The third series acknowledges the silence.  For this, I have chosen stripes as a motif.

Mixed Media

The Mixed Media series are pieces that reflect my interest in, or my reaction to specific historical events, or ideas specifically involving my family.

Silence

The third series, Silence, acknowledges the silence of my parents. For this, I use stripes as a motif.

Photography provided by Matthew Sumi 

LIGHT/SILENCE PRACTICE And the Colors of the Past

Excerpt from an article by Kadence Englehardt for Daily Edition
I’m a baby boomer and my parents are of the WWII generation. My father fought and my mother, who was British, was part of the British Royal Navy. All my aunts and uncles at one time or another were involved in some way. What happened with that generation though, was that when they came back from the war, they didn’t really talk about it too much. In particular, my parents didn’t really talk about it very much, obviously for good reason – it was very traumatic. The Baby Boomers are known for drugs, sex and Rock’n’Roll – but we are also the sons and daughters of the WWII Generation; something I don’t think anyone has really looked at too much.

Since both my parents are no longer with us, I decided that I really wanted to find out what was going on: in a historical sense – of course, but I really wanted to trace the steps that my father took. I’ve done a large amount of research, and in that I’m finding the path my father took, the places he fought, and the things he never told me.  This series talks about the history, but more importantly explores the silence.

I’m doing these mixed media pieces, which really represents all of that research I’ve done. The Silence series uses a lot of stripes. I’m using a different palette, new inspiration, and various new medias. It’s taking me a lot of time. Some of the paintings have to be done multiple times to get it right. I’m incorporating my familiar landscapes, but those are coming from imagined places and events or literal descriptions from soldiers who participated. It’s huge and vastly different. I didn’t think it was going to be easy, and I knew it would be a different scope than I’m used to, but I’m definitely still learning. I go back and forth, but I feel like I’m really starting to hit my stride.