BUCKLAND — Local artist Gayle Kabaker secured a fifth New Yorker cover this month.
The March cover embodies a winter ski-scape, with a skier and three dogs perched on a slope (including her own dog, Charlie), against a forest backdrop. Kabaker created the artwork “using regular old-school paint and paper,” she said, before scanning and editing the piece using Photoshop.
“That’s usually how I work,” Kabaker said.
The Buckland artist noted the path to securing a New Yorker cover has many dead-ends.
“I submit lots of ideas all the time, and you know, most of the time they don’t go anywhere,” Kabaker said. “But I do some of my best work as a New Yorker cover submission, so it’s always a good thing.”
Kabaker moved from San Francisco to Buckland with her husband in 1987. They have two adult children, Max and Sonya Kitchell, who both live in New York City. Sonya Kitchell is also known locally, having worked as singer-songwriter since she was a teenager.
Moving across the country was challenging at first, Kabaker said, though now she is “very entrenched” in the community.
“It was a really hard move for the first few years because, you know, I was a city girl. Once we started having kids, it became easier to meet people,” Kabaker said.
Kabaker has never had a conventional job, she said, having always worked as an artist. She began her art career as a fashion illustrator before expanding her repertoire to include portraits, florals, travel, food and logos.
Next, Kabaker is headed to Washington, D.C. in April for the 18th Annual Global Leadership Awards at the John F. Kennedy Center Opera House, as she painted portraits of six award recipients, who are all noteworthy women with remarkable stories.
View Kabaker’s webpage here: http://gkabaker.com/.
Reach Grace Bird at gbird@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 280.