Painter Gordon Wilson illustrious career is the subject of a new book

You can find art books filled with the works of Claude Monet, Georgia O’Keeffe and Jackson Pollock. Now, you can find one featuring Gordon Wilson.

Marshall Peterson, owner and curator of Spokane’s Marmot Art Space, recently published “Gordon Wilson: Painter Professor Emeritus.”

A Kickstarter campaign funded the 220-page hardbound book.

“Of the literally thousands of locals out there who identify as artists, less than 1% of 1% ever have a book written about them,” Peterson said.

Wilson’s 50-year career as an artist and art professor is a story Peterson felt compelled to tell.

“Gordon won’t admit this, but he’s one of the biggest artists in the Inland Northwest,” he said. “Big artists have books produced about them. He deserves the book, and I knew that many people love his work and love him, so there’d be support here in Spokane.”

Wilson joined the faculty at Whitworth University in 1976, where he taught art until his retirement in 2022.

The ever-modest Wilson initially expressed reluctance about the project.

“I didn’t know if it was a good idea,” he said. “I didn’t think a book about me would have much influence and would take a lot of work to pull off.”

He agreed to provide Peterson with source materials, including an essay by Meredith TeGrotenhuis Shimizu, the chair of the art department at Whitworth University. The essay serves as the foreword for the book.

Describing Wilson’s artistic journey, she wrote, “He looks closely at the world around him, returning to the same subject repeatedly, each time considering a new angle – a different perspective – in the exploration of form and meaning.”

TeGrotenhuis Shimizu is one of Wilson’s former students.

Wilson said what his former student turned colleague remembers most about his intro to art class was a visit to the university library.

“I took them to the oversize section filled with art books and said, This is everything you need to know about art,” he recalled. “It was really memorable for her.”

Now, perhaps his book will be included in the Whitworth library.

Like all the best art books, this one brims with images.

“You don’t put words in place of an artist’s work,” said Peterson. “There’s nothing better than the actual art.”

Selected works trace the trajectory of Wilson’s career.

From a haunting painting of an old, overgrown orchard outside of Vancouver, Washington, to graphite drawings tracing his recovery from colon cancer, to a multitude of works depicting his visits to France, Italy, and Germany, the reader witnesses architecture, humanity and nature through Wilson’s eyes.

He primarily works in oil, and the rich vibrancy of his palette imbues each image with warmth.

When COVID prevented his yearly summer abroad, he turned his eyes to Spokane, creating the “Bridges of Spokane” series.

It was prompted by a nudge from Peterson.

“He (Peterson) said, ‘You should do a painting of Spokane from Kendall Yards,’ ” Wilson recalled.

This isn’t the gallery owner’s first book.

“I created a book for my Spokane Fifty project, chronicling my year with Leadership Spokane and a book on Ric Gendron right before he passed,” he said. “I plan to do more books on my artists.”

This is what many large galleries do.

“I’m establishing in a midsize city what they do in big cities,” said Peterson. “All the bigger galleries have a publishing arm.”

Peterson hopes for a big turnout for the First Friday book launch of “Gordon Wilson: Painter Professor Emeritus.”

“Come celebrate an art expert. Celebrate dedication. Celebrate precision. Celebrate commitment,” he said. “Focus on someone who values art so much that they’ve spent their life creating it and teaching about it.”

Contact Cindy Hval at dchval@juno.com