In Memoriam: Artist, Gene Gill

Portland recently lost one of her treasured artists, Gene Gill, who passed away earlier this summer.

Gill was known for his depictions of Portland life, his award-winning watercolors grace hundreds of private and corporate collections throughout the western states.  Dedicated to concept and design, Gill took an illustrative approach to his impressionistic paintings.  He was a friend of the gallery for many, many years.

He attended Portland State University and the Northwest College of Art, receiving a degree in advertising/illustration from the renowned Art Center School in Pasadena, California.

Gill began his commercial career as an art director for N.W. Ayer in Chicago, the first advertising agency in the United States, working on accounts such as United Air Lines and Armour.  From there he traveled to Detroit to serve in the “Car Wars”, working on a host of major automobile accounts, gaining great experience with some of the country’s top illustrators and designers.

In 1970, he returned to Portland where his creative talents were utilized by Pacific Power, Georgia Pacific, Tektronix, Intel, and many other local companies.

Gill began his transition to fine art in 1995, and enjoyed success, winning numerous awards magazine features.  He will be greatly missed by many.

Some photos from the original post were not preserved in the web archive and could not be restored.