Gilbert Visual Art League
Supporting Artists Since 2003
Welcome! We’re glad you found us! The Gilbert Visual Art League strives to increase artistic awareness and appreciation in the community. GVAL offers area artists fellowship and support through monthly meetings, which include professional artist demonstrations. Throughout the year a variety of sales venues are available exclusively to our GVAL Membership.
Monthly Membership Meetings
Join us! We meet the first Thursday from September through June.
GVAL hosts monthly membership meetings September through June on the first Thursday of the month at 6:30 pm in the Neely room at HD South, Home of the Gilbert Historical Museum. Our meetings generally include a critique of members works in progress, GVAL announcements, a guest presenter, and voting for Artist of the Month. See the UPCOMING DATES page under the DATES/NEWSLETTERS/BLOG menu tab for information on upcoming meetings.
Meeting Location: 10 S. Gilbert Road, 85296 (located just south of downtown Gilbert). We meet in the Neely Room. Please use the parking lot off W. Elliot and enter through the open gate as shown on the map.
22nd GVAL Fine Art Show & Sale
March 30th – May 3rd 2025
Artists: Art pick up is at HD South on Sunday, May 4th from 2:00 – 4:00 pm.
Questions about the show can be directed to hello2@gval.org.
Artist of the Month
Each month members select their favorite art piece via a secret ballot.
At each regular monthly meeting, members are invited to bring in a recently completed, ready-to-hang artwork. You can find the rules HERE. Those present at the meeting are asked to vote for their favorite by way of secret ballot.
We have a tie for April Artist of the Month!! Congratulations to Mohan Toopal and Barbara Usey! Mohan’s is a 24 by 24 oil painting. It is for sale. Find more of his art on his Instagram page. Barbara’s art is a lovely mixed media piece called “On my Table”. It is 12×16, and it is for sale. Her art may be enjoyed on Fine Art America and her Instagram page.
April Presentation – Simon Kregar
Our guest presenter for GVAL on Thursday, the 3rd was Simon Kregar, fine art director of exhibitions for the International Association of Astronomical Arts ( IAAA).
He gave a power point presentation on the evolution of art with astronomy and discovery of space exploration as its subject. He has a fine arts degree in arts management. He lives in Tucson. His medium of choice is acrylic. He said he doesn’t have the patience for oils. He primarily paints portraits and does lots of research for accuracy in depicting space in the paintings. He has done some sculpture, too. His first portrait was of Albert Einstein and now primarily paints astronauts. His advice is “Go for it” in jump starting an art career.
IAAA has 200 members worldwide in a variety of vocations. They have workshops, plein aire activities, and retaining scientific integrity. Planetary landscapes are a favorite.
Thanks to Michael MacKowski for asking Simon to share his art interests with GVAL.
Get to know our GVAL Members! Many of our members are professional artists. Original artwork makes a wonderful gift which will be treasured for years to come!
Click HERE for the Member Directory
Members, let’s get to know each other and share your art with the world! Just upload a photo of yourself and a photo of your art. You can share your contact information if you wish (optional).
Use the easy to fill out form HERE
Facebook Page for Members!
We now have a new and exciting way for our members to interact. Michael Mackowski recently set up a private GVAL members Facebook page. Its purpose is for members to make posts to share with fellow artists. On this page, members can post artwork in process, get critiques, communicate more with each other, and inform others about art recognition’s. The address for the private page is https://www.facebook.com/groups/624680495964886 (Search Gilbert Visual Art League). GVAL’s main Facebook page is still public and is there for league announcements, celebrations, art opportunities, etc. That address is https://www.facebook.com/gilbertvisualartleague (Search GVAL (Gilbert Visual Art League). It is now administered by Michael Mackowsky.
Reach over 500 Area Artists!
Advertise in the Art Vine, the GVAL Monthly Newsletter.
Are you teaching a class or selling art related items? You may advertise on the Art Vine newsletter and it will also be promoted through the GVAL social media sites. Instructors will be responsible for finding a venue and collecting payment from the students. Charges for advertisement in the Art Vine are $20 for GVAL members and $30 for non-members for each month that an advertisement runs. If there are multiple interested parties in the same month, the first two entries will be published. The party submitting the advertisement will be responsible for crafting the ad. Just click the button below for the form and payment options.
GVAL Newsletter
GVAL Members, do you have an art related news item you’d like to share? Contact Linda Taylor, GVAL Newsletter Coordinator at jelltay@sbcglobal.net.
Download our latest Newsletter
Browse earlier copies of our Newsletter by clicking here.
Community Outreach
Gilbert Visual Art League strives to provide education at our monthly meetings through professional artist presentations and by supporting various outreach programs in our community.
Currently, GVAL is involved in two educational outreach programs. Volunteer members teach children at House of Refuge in Mesa, and also provide art instruction to children and adults through art workshops at HD South in Gilbert.
To find details and who you can contact to be a part of our Community Outreach efforts, click HERE.
We want to see what you’ve been working on! Did know that our Publicity Coordinator, Michael Mackowski, updates our Facebook and Instagram pages almost daily throughout the year? You can send your images and let us know what is happening in your art world by contacting Michael at michael.mackowski@gmail.com. And don’t forget to visit our social media sites often to see what our members are sharing! You can also find stories on our blog GVAL Happenings! by clicking the link below. If you are in the News and want to share your story, let Mary Opat know at maryopat@gval.org