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Gail Hire Bruce, the Artist


"Grandfather"

To say that Gail Hire Bruce is a woman of many talents and passions would be an understatement...

Gail began revealing her creative talents through art as a child.  In her teens and early twenties, Gail modeled throughout Europe and the U.S. working regularly for major designers and publications.  She was discovered by director Howard Hawks in her mid-twenties and began acting in films and television.  What distinguishes Gail is not just her talents and beauty, but her obvious passion and care for people.

Her formal training in art came at the Arts Student League in New York and the Woodbury School of Design in Los Angeles.  When Gail took up serigraphy in 1974, she had developed her own creative style. So apparent was her freshness of design and concept that the color separations from her first serigraph editions, were used by the Museum of Modern Art in a serigraphy demonstration class. Gail credits her distinctive painting style to a variety of influences including the clean and simple look of Irving Penn's photographs, the tranquility of Japanese images, and the mystery of a Chumash Indian Elder, who inspired Gail to become a Native American Education Activist.

Gail has embraced that encouragement for activism and used it to become a founding board member of The American Indian College Fund. In addition, she is the creator and founder of the Cultural Learning Centers Initiative for the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, which has built learning centers at 29 American Indian Tribal Colleges in 12 states. Gail is on the Multicultural Outreach Advisory Board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and is co-founder of Unreserved, a not-for-profit devoted to celebrating and leveraging American Indian fashion and art.