Biography - Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

Gail Niebrugge (Knee-brew-ghe) born and raised in California has pursued art since childhood, winning a poster contest on the Johnny Jet television show at the age of twelve. The Niebrugge family fell in love with Alaska while on vacation in 1976 and never returned home, instead they established a residence in the remote interior settlement of Copper Center. Since 1995 Palmer has been home to the Niebrugge’s.

Traveling by mail plane, ski plane, helicopter, boat, raft, ATV, canoe, truck and camper as well as hiking on foot, enables her to gain first-hand knowledge and understanding of Alaska’s wilderness, wildlife, landscape and history. Returning home to work in the studio her love of these subjects is translated into colorful paintings.

Known throughout the world for her use of pointillism, the artist developed this technique in 1986 while confined to bed recovering from neck and back injuries. Using small dot like strokes the paintings are made from thousands of spots of color. Up close the dots dominate, but when viewed from a distance the image is sharply realistic.

Gail received a Master’s Degree in Art Illustration from Syracuse University, is a signature member of Watercolor USA Honor Society, was the first artist-in-residence for the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, and is author of Gail Niebrugge’s Alaska Wildflowers a book about her work. A five time winner in the National Diabetes Association’s Holiday Art Search, Niebrugge’s artwork has appeared on hundreds of thousands of Christmas cards sold nationwide to benefit diabetes research. She has completed seven major public commissions in Alaska, including a ten panel multi-dimensional artwork for the U.S. Customs in Skagway. Niebrugge Studio publishes reproductions of her paintings that are carried by galleries throughout Alaska.