Gaye Dixon

A second generation colonial, Gaye was born in India. Her family moved to Rhodesia when she was a child where she grew up on farms, attending schools in outlying agricultural areas and later she went to the Teachers’ College in Bulawayo.

She spent the years between 1971 and 1983 in England where she was able to experience the wide cultural landscape – museums, galleries, historical landmarks and buildings which were a huge eye-opener to her.

On returning to Zimbabwe she was finally able to fulfil her desire to express through her art her deep-seated love affair with Africa and its wildlife. Privileged to have had the opportunity to observe the bush and its inhabitants regularly, Gaye’s artworks in oils, watercolour, pen and ink and graphite depict, in a representational manner, the wild creatures she loves in their natural habitat. She believes that to create an awareness of the magnificence, as well as the vulnerability, of the wildlife of Africa is one way in which the artist can contribute to its long term conservation and survival.

Gaye’s work (signed with her initials – GLAS) sold extensively through group exhibitions and galleries in Zimbabwe where she also mounted a successful solo exhibition in 1995. She was able to realise a life-long ambition when she was commissioned to design three sets of postage stamps for the Zimbabwe Posts and Telecommunication Corporation between 1998 and 2001.

Now living on the Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia – after retiring from the art gallery and picture framing business which she and her husband, Colin, ran for 15 years – Gaye continues to paint the subjects she is passionate about. Being largely self taught Gaye is proud to have been selected as a Finalist in the David Shepherd Wildlife Fund Artist of the Year 2021 and strives to expose the beauty of Africa and its fauna to wider horizons.