Born in 1940, Rhea Gary, a native of Louisiana, received Bachelor of Science and  Master of Fine Arts degrees from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge where she has lived and worked for many years.  Ms. Gary also attended the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts and has studied with many well-known American artists including Wolf Kahn, Auselkis Ozols, Dell Weller, and Thomas Mulder.  Additionally, Ms. Gary has spent a lifetime traveling the world, attending and teaching in numerous international programs for artists in the United States, Mexico, Canada, France, Ireland, and Italy.

Inspired by the splendor and magnificence of the landscape, Rhea Gary's representational interpretation has captured and transformed the pristine beauty of the natural surroundings in a fetching and dramatic style mastering hyper-saturated color and graceful form as she applies oil to canvas or paper.  Ms. Gary's affection and tender appreciation for the fragile beauty of the landscapes and scenery she paints is both tangible and moving.  An elegant and thoughtful coherence is rendered in each painting by Gary's masterful juxtaposition of bold tonal and contextual elements with soft edges and blurred contours.  Whether she is painting the bayous of the southern United States or the highlands of central Mexico, her work is timeless and universal - a synthesis of striking, vivid colors and ethereal realism.

Since 2003, Ms. Gary has devoted much of her time and dedicated much of her art to a vanishing treasure - the wetlands of Louisiana.  Together with wildlife and wetlands photographer, C.C. Lockwood, Gary developed the Marsh Mission Project and, with Mr. Lockwood, co-authored the popular book Marsh Mission, Capturing the Vanishing Wetlands.  The body of art work created for this important and compelling ecological mission toured  museums across the United States, including the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the Museum of Natural Science , Houston, Texas and U.S. Botanic Garden Conservatory, Washington D.C.  Additionally, The Marsh Mission Project produced an educational CD which continues to be used in classrooms throughout the United States.

Throughout her distinguished career, Ms. Gary has received numerous honors and awards for her work through exhibitions and juried shows across the United States, including the Louisiana Art Legend Award of 2011.  In addition to Ms. Gary's many prominent private and corporate collectors, her works are included in museum permanent collections, including Alexandria Museum of Art and LSU Museum of Art, as well as in the Louisiana State Capitol Building, Louisiana Senate Office Building, and the Louisiana Governor's Mansion; and in United States Embassies in Australia, Bahrain, Jordan, and Venezuela. 

Her work has been published in American Artist, Southwest Art, Art & Antiques, Louisiana Life, and numerous regional journals. She has been featured on television on CBS Sunday Mornings, Delta Hands, and Louisiana Public Broadcasting. She has repeatedly been voted “Best Painter” in the Best of 225 AWARDS by the readers of 225 Magazine, a publication of the Greater Baton Rouge Metropolitan Area.

Ms. Gary and her husband, Leon, have three children and four grandchildren. The Gary family divide their time between their homes in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Cashiers, North Carolina, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Galeria 19 in Fredericksburg, Texas is Rhea Gary's exclusive representative in Texas.

Works