Description:

Gretchen Papka grew up in a small town in central Wyoming where her family owned and operated the only newspaper in town. Her early experiences with printing equipment and presses helped develop & direct her toward formal training in commercial art with Parsons School of Design in New York City.

After spending a summer studying in Paris and graduation - she worked as an Assistant Admissions Director and representative of Parsons by traveling across the United States speaking and reviewing portfolios for college level artwork. She worked as a graphic artist in the commercial art field for many years, but it is in the last 10 years that she has begun to experiment with mixed media and painting with encaustics.

Papka has a trained eye for color, composition, texture, balance and intuitive ingenuity when it comes to creativity. Her current work is described as "an intuitive connection to a piece through experimentation and manipulation of texture, color and content."