Artist Gary Anderson remains attached to his Central Texas roots while engaging in a diverse field of artistic endeavors. He currently resides with wife, Carroll, in Georgetown, Texas near his birthplace of Austin, Texas.

After receiving his Bachelor’s degree from Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) in 1974, Anderson taught art, photography, computer graphics and yearbook at the high school level. After receiving his M.F.A. degree from the University of Texas in 1984, he taught in the public schools for 28 years, retiring from the public school classroom in 2003. Anderson was voted to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers by his students five times during his teaching career. In 1992, Gary began Dynamic Images Photography and worked as a professional commercial photographer until 2006.

By 2007, Anderson was able to devote more time to making his own art outside of commercial photography. The inclusion of fabrics and sewing in Anderson’s work comes from the influence of his father, who was a furniture upholster, fabric salesman, and consummate machine embroidery craftsman. Using industrial sewing machines, Anderson’s father taught his son sewing and Gary’s school-age summers were spent working by his father’s side in a lint-laden, musty, fabric-strewn upholstery shop. This early experience melds with his formal, academic art training and manifests in a variety of collage, mixed media, photograph, and textile assemblages. Anderson was offered his first solo exhibit in 2012. He has shown work at numerous art festivals, events, and venues, and has been represented by galleries in Austin and throughout Central Texas.

Gary joined Georgetown Art Works in 2011, and became a founding board member of the Georgetown Art Center in 2013. After serving as a volunteer for a number of years, Gary was contracted to install exhibits for GAC. In 2018, Anderson became the GAC Coordinator. He has personally interacted with hundreds of artists and overseen the coordination and installation of over 80 exhibits at Georgetown Art Center.

The Georgetown City Council appointed Anderson to the Georgetown Arts and Culture Advisory Board in 2012 and, more recently, he was recognized as a Hometown Hero by Hello Georgetown in 2022.

Gary Anderson currently maintains a studio at Canopy Studios in Austin, and continues to create artwork from his home studio in Georgetown. Additionally, he serves as a consultant and adviser to area artists, and remains devoted to supportive art discussions, art activities, and creative projects that promote and encourage the work of aspiring artists of all ages.

Photo by Rudy Ximenez