Gwynn Popovac was born December 1, 1948 in Delaware, but spent most of her childhood in the San Fernando Valley. She started working in crayon on paper and walls at the age of four. Mainly self-taught, she didn't go public with her art until she was living in Westwood, Los Angeles, and attending UCLA as a literature student. Larry Gagosian was her first agent, freeing her up to camp in the Mojave and Sequioa on the week ends. In 1971, she helped him open his first gallery -- a courtyard affair in Westwood Village, where she exhibited her art. Westwood was a thriving art spot at that time. And she benefited hugely from the artistic sensibilities and support of friends she made then, such as Billy Kinchelow, Wade Brooks, Cathleen Fitzpatrick-Linder, Martina Rameriz, Louis-Laurent Gauthier. And especially the late Stephen Greengarde, who kept a keen eye on her work, and let her know if he felt she wasn't moving forward on her path.
From Los Angeles, she moved to the Mediterranean with her future husband, Vladimir Popovac. They also lived for a decade in northern Vermont, where their daughter was born. With the roar of the city exchanged for the hum of the country, Gwynn found herself living in a realm where the natural world and dreams blended together easily. Out of the flora and fauna, wild terrain, dramatic weather, and an ever-present child -- all distilled through dreams -- her art grew all the more into a personal mythology.
She also lived for a brief time on the Adriatic, returning to The States to edit her novel Wet Paint, which was published in 1984 by Houghton MIfflin, and later by Ballantine. She and her family made a new home for themselves outside of Sonora California, again with ample opportunity to blend in with nature.
In 1993, her insect portraits, with notes, were published by Pomegranate Artbooks in the form of a journal titled "Conversation With Bugs." It was sold in natural history museum shops from Golden Gate Park to the Smithsonian, and widely acclaimed as an inspiring work which had the effect of raising public respect for insects and lowering their fear of them.
In 1990, after having done dozens of masks on paper, mostly composed of natural elements, she constructed her first
3-dimensional mask. Now she is at work on her eleventh one, of a wetlands theme. Even if it's still a work-in-progress by October 1st, it will be among the others for an exhibition of her BioMythic Masks at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona.
Gwynn's art has been exhibited in various venues, including: Navy Pier -- Chicago, Olive Hyde City Gallery --Fremont CA, Hearst Gallery -- Moraga, CA, Anderson Gallery -- Detroit, The Wellspring Gallery -- Santa Monica CA, Phoenix Art Museum -- Arizona, Red Rock Museum -- Gallup New Mexico, Tohono Chul Museum --Tucson Arizona, The Bone Room
-- Berkeley CA. Prints of her work can be found at: West of the Moon -- Flagstaff Arizona, On Purpose --Sutter Creek CA, Aeolian Harp --Angels Camp CA, Benjamin Figs -- Sonora CA.
She still lives in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, on a serene southern slope called Heron Rise. The name is a reminder to wake slowly and rise quietly in the morning -- so as to not frighten off a dream wading at the edge of consciousness, or a heron who might be standing in the pond below her cabin.
Other Visual inspirations and influences,
in order of appearance in Gwynn's life:
Walt Disney's - Bambi, Alice in Wonderland
Harry Clarke -- fairy tale illustrations
Edward Detmold -- illlustrations
Walter Linsenmaier -- insect illustrations
Ernst Haeckel -- biological studies
M.C Escher -- graphic art
Van Gogh -- paintings and letters to Theo
Max Ernst -- surrealistic paintings
Hokusai - woodcut prints
Gustav Klimt
John Singer Sargent
Jackson Pollock
Rudolph & Leopold Blaschka - creations in glass
Robert Panovich - sculptor
Utamaro -- woodcut prints
Obata -- woodcut prints
Tim Killion -- woodcut prints
Walton Ford -- natural history with a twist
