Gillian Wainwright
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Gillian Wainwright is a painter based in Jersey City. She got her MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago under Dan Gustin. For the last few years she has been painting her own backyard garden. She started doing that during the pandemic and never stopped. She works in oil on canvas and panel, painting from life but more and more from memory. She also teaches, and once compared painting to swinging a tiger by the tail.
Q: Tell us a bit about your background. You went from California to Chicago to New Jersey. How did painting stay at the centre?
A: I've moved frequently—from California to North Carolina to Chicago and now New Jersey—and each transition has challenged and shaped my painting. Establishing a studio and rhythm always takes time, but each place has offered something distinct. In the Bay Area, I was captivated by light and the legacy of the Bay Area Figurative School. In North Carolina, I had a large studio overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains, where painting became an essential refuge during a difficult time in my family. In Chicago, at the School of the Art Institute, I was fully immersed in painting as both student and teacher. Now, back in the New York area, I'm sustained by a strong community of painters.
Q: Lately the subject is your own backyard garden. What made you look that close to home?
A: I've always painted from life, often returning to the same nearby locations. During the pandemic, I retreated to my backyard, where working outside in the city no longer felt safe. That constraint became a turning point. The garden is enclosed and much smaller than my previous sites, but staying with it over time has allowed the work to deepen. For perceptual painters, sustained looking reveals more—the longer you stay, the more complex things become. I often think of scuba diving: if you hover in one place, entire worlds emerge. Painting my garden operates the same way, through patience, attention, and repetition.
Q: You studied with Dan Gustin at SAIC. What did he teach you that stuck?
A: Dan is a brilliant teacher who changed how I understand painting. He made it all matter deeply. A moment that I remember vividly: I was painting a pile of discarded food on the ground, when Dan came over, took a dismissive look at the painting, and then turned a nearby faucet on and said, "Paint that!" Suddenly water was cascading and splashing about and catching the sunlight. Everything became soaked and the colors were saturated and gorgeous. It was impossible to paint and exhilarating and magical. I painted like mad.
Q: Windows come up as a theme alongside gardens and nature. What do windows do for you in a painting?
A: When I first began painting in my garden, I wanted to be fully immersed in the garden itself. I turned to window paintings during harsh weather, and that shift changed the work. Outside it always feels hectic. In the window paintings I find myself looking less at the garden and more at the painting. The garden remains relatively constant, but the frame alters the experience and creates a level of remove. I think it's been good for the work.
Q: You've taught at SAIC and other institutions. Does teaching change how you work in your own studio?
A: Teaching sharpened my ability to critique my own work. When you are constantly looking at different work and having to articulate the problems with it, you are exercising that part of your brain. My actual painting though has its own life. It's like swinging a tiger by the tail. You aren't really in control and you definitely can't stop.
Q: What are you excited about right now?
A: So many things! Spring is a fantastic time for any garden and a welcome explosion of color which is wonderful to paint. At the moment I'm also thinking about pushing the element of memory more in my paintings and seeing how that changes the work. There are always more discoveries to make!
