Bio

Dixie Friend Gay, Artist

Houston artist Dixie Friend Gay has focused on public-art projects and museum exhibitions since 1998.  Her work explores the mystery and power of nature.

She was raised on a cattle ranch in western Oklahoma. The cycles of the seasons dictated life on the remote plains. After three years of teaching art, she resigned from the rural school to pursue reality as a visual artist on the East Coast.  In 1989, while living in Manhattan, she earned a Master’s degree in Studio Arts from New York University.

Her art has been featured in galleries and museums including the Bronx Museum, Allan Stone Gallery, and COFA Gallery in New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis. Gay’s work is also included in the permanent collections of The Boston Public Library; The Kienholz Collection, Hope, Idaho; Verizon, Dallas; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi.

She has received awards as Artist of the Year by the Texas Commission for the Arts, (2003), Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts, (2003), American Institute of Architecture, (2001 & 2007) and the Art League, (2007).

Her focus on public art projects includes the public art commission at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, completed in February 2002.  The installation, Houston Bayou, comprises a Byzantine glass mosaic mural on a 73-foot-long serpentine wall, columns, and the terrazzo floor design. It was selected as one of the best public art installations in the United States by the national organization Americans for the Arts for its "Fresh Perspectives / Public Art Year in Review 2002."  The installation also received "Craftsmanship Awards" from the Houston and the Regional Chapters of the Construction Specifications Institute in 2002.

Her public art installation at the Port of Miami, Ephemeral Everglades, was recognized by American’s for the Arts in the annual meeting in June 2008.

In 2008, Gay has completed a 12’ x 24’ mosaic mural for the new Chevron headquarters in Covington, Louisiana, a 17’ x 24’ mural for the New Indianapolis Airport, and a water play park for The Woodlands. Gay also had a one person show of her paintings at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Art, San Angelo, TX in the early spring.   

In 2009, Gay completed mosaic murals for the Houston Medical Center, a private Texas Ranch, and for The Woodlands.  She had a solo exhibition at William Tower Gallery in Houston.

Gay has received numerous grants from the Cultural Arts Council of Houston & Harris County.  With CACHH grants she has created two children’s books, Famous Oaks of Houston, which is being distributed by Trees for Houston and Bayou Creatures which is being distributed by Bayou Partnership, and the Houston Arboretum.

Gay has been awarded residency fellowships at the Virginia Center for Create Arts in Sweet Briar, VA (2002) , Ragdale, Lake Forest, IL (2004), Djerassi, Woodside, CA (2005), and the Tyrone Guthrie Center, Newbliss, Co. Monaghan, Ireland (2008).