La'Nelle Gambrell

 

La’Nelle Gambrell studied studio arts at the College of the Desert Arts in Palm Desert, California, and graphic design and journalism at the University of Houston, Houston, Texas. She also studied privately for two years with the well-known Texas sculptor, Ellsworth Handy.

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As the owner of La’Nelle Gambrell Advertising/Art and later Artemis Film and Graphics, (Corpus Christi, Texas and Houston, Texas) La’Nelle’s expertise in corporate design and copywriting helped build a national client list that included banks, hotels, travel agencies, commuter airlines, fast food restaurants, television and radio stations, power companies and two Texas State Senators. She wrote everything from television, newspaper, and magazine ad copy and articles to press releases and speeches. She produced her own television and radio spots, edited books, articles, and countless newsletters, designed corporate logos, and won numerous Advertising Federation awards, including Best of Show. She is also a published author and once had her own weekly television show, ‘CBS Computer Football Forecast’ in the early 70's. 

 

La’Nelle has won numerous awards, including several Best of Show awards for corporate design, various film/graphic projects, and paintings. More recently, since moving to Mt View, Arkansas, she has won first-place awards and a best-of-show for her paintings. “I’ve been an artist all my life, La’Nelle says, but only discovered encaustics, now a passion, some six years ago after moving to Mountain View, Arkansas.” She has put away her previous mediums and has now devoted her entire studio to perhaps the oldest known art form, the ancient art of the Egyptians of the Fayum Valley. Her expertise in the medium sometimes references recognizable forms, sometimes not, but always there is the depth and translucency that can only be achieved with flame and molten beeswax.

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La’Nelle also enjoys teaching encaustic art at the Mountain View Art Guild, the Arkansas Craft School (also in Mountain View), and at her studio on Fox Mountain, 14 miles outside of Mt View, near Fox, Arkansas where she instructs in the ancient art of encaustics. She says she most enjoys teaching her one-on-one, one-day class with only one or two students at a time. "I believe, that once someone learns the underlying basics of encaustics they would only be limited by their imagination as to what they could produce." 

When she’s not painting, writing, or teaching, La'Nelle enjoys genealogy, photography, and antique rug shopping and research. She’s also a volunteer for Safe Haven Animal Shelter and always reminds her friends to be responsible pet owners by having their pets spayed or neutered. 

 

You can learn more about La'Nelle, her art, and her encaustic classes from her website; www.LaNelle.com.