About the Artist

Artist Statement

My artwork is connected to my love of the outdoors, especially running in and exploring the woods. I look to nature for its meaning and mystery. Looking closely at the world is important to me as I investigate the inner lives of animate and inanimate objects.

I have always painted landscapes as well as still-lifes and figurative work. My landscapes began as very detailed pastels on paper, using my photographs for reference, then changed over the years to oil paintings painted outdoors with less detail and more expression. More recently I alternate between plein air painting and inventing scenes out of my imagination. In either pursuit I value storytelling over realism. Making a scene that contains unexpected color and extra intimacy with the subject matter is a goal. The woods are my most frequent subject - I think that trees talk among themselves and will let us into the conversation if we listen.

When not carrying my easel into wild places, I am often designing and cutting stencils which I use to paint the more clean-edge acrylics. Some of the scenes are painted free-hand, but both types involve putting the puzzle pieces together as I go, in order to create a place I’d like to visit.

I worry chronically about our planet and how we care for it. Or don’t. When we see all the elements and inhabitants of the world as neighbors and family we are held to a deeper level of responsibility.

Artist CV

I am an artist who has been painting and exhibiting since the 1980’s.

My education was at Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, where I received a BA in a combined major of Studio Art and Art History. I loved the exposure to the many challenging and provocative movements going on in art in the second half of the 20th Century and beyond. I earned some of my credits at Temple University Abroad in Rome and at California Institute of the Arts.

My art practice has changed over the years from detailed landscapes in pastel to less-realistic landscapes, still-lifes, and figurative work in oils and acrylics. Currently I alternately work from life and work from my imagination. Both pursuits have a way of informing the other. I have been fortunate to be invited into numerous exhibitions over the years, to have won awards along the way, and to have work in collections across the country.

My Upcoming Shows include
* Aug, 2025 - Kickin’ Up the Chroma – a three-person exhibit at the Hardy Gallery, Ephraim, WI
* Jan, 2025 - newART/v - a group show at newARTspace, De Pere, WI

My Recent Shows from 2024 include
* Oct - Neville Public Museum 79th Art Annual Juried Exhibition, the Neville Public Museum, Green Bay, WI
* Sep - 49th Juried Annual Exhibition, the Miller Art Museum, Sturgeon Bay, WI
* Aug - 60 Years/Sixty Works, invitational show, the Hardy Gallery, Ephraim, WI
* Jul - 2024 Collection Invitational, invitational show, the Hardy Gallery, Ephraim, WI
* Jun - Door Prize for Portraiture #15, invitational show, Chez Cheryl Artspace, Door County, WI
* Jun - Wisconsin Visual Artists NE Chapter Members Exhibit, juried show, Miller Art Museum, Sturgeon Bay, WI
* May - Art of Water VIII, Juried Exhibition, James May Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, and online/Artsy

My previous Solo or Two-Artist Shows include
* 2015 - Lynn Gilchrist, a Survey, solo show, Silver Lake College, Manitowoc, WI
* 2015 - Lynn Gilchrist, solo show, The Gallery at Door Peninsula Winery, Carlsville, WI
* 2015 - Lynn Gilchrist & Chad Luberger, two-artist invitational show, Door County Community Foundation, Sturgeon Bay, WI

My Awards include
* 2024 - Honorable Mention, Wisconsin Visual Artists NE Chapter Members Exhibit, Miller Art Museum, Sturgeon Bay, WI
* 2022, 2020, 2010 - Honorable Mention, Door Prize for Portraiture, Door County, WI
* 2017 - Best of Show, Door Prize for Portraiture, Door County, WI
* 2016 - Bonnie Hartmann Award for Outstanding Creativity, 41st Juried Annual, Miller Art Museum, Sturgeon Bay, WI
* 2014 - named Door County Master Artist, Door County Art League, Door County, WI
* 1986 - selected for Associate Membership, Pastel Society of America
* Other Best of Show Awards: Neville Public Museum, Green Bay, WI; Wisconsin Women in the Arts, Milwaukee, WI
* Purchase Awards: Neville Public Museum Art Annual, Green Bay, WI; Deer Path Gallery Art Fair on the Square, Lake Forest, IL; Wisconsin Women in the Arts Juried Show, Milwaukee, WI
* Place Awards: Pastel Society of the West Coast, Sacramento, CA; Midsummer Festival of Art, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI; Secura Fine Arts Exhibition, Trout Museum of Art, Appleton, WI

My Bibliography includes
* 2024 - Living for Color, the bold artistry of Lynn Gilchrist, article by Sally Collins, Door County Living magazine
* 2022 - Artist Spotlight, Lynn Gilchrist, Wisconsin Visual Artists, WVA magazine Q4 January
* 2019 - 12 Questions: Lynn Gilchrist, James May Gallery, www.jamesmaygallery.com
* 2015 - Questions & Artists: Lynn Gilchrist, article by Randy Rasmussen, Peninsula Pulse newspaper
* 2011 - Artistic Balance, A profile of Lynn Gilchrist, article by Sally Everhardus, Door County Living magazine
* 2001 - artwork selected for Celebrating Door County’s Wild Places, Paintings of the Peninsula, Prairie Oak Press

My Gallery representation
Idea Gallery of Contemporary Art, Egg Harbor, WI

My Collections
Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI
Michael Best & Friedrich, Milwaukee, WI
Cook & Franke, Milwaukee, WI
Heritage Insurance, Sheboygan, WI
Johnson Hill Press, Ft. Atkinson, WI
Miller Art Museum, Sturgeon Bay, WI
Neville Public Museum, Green Bay, WI
Door County Medical Center, Sister Bay, WI
Green Bay Packaging, Green Bay, WI
AAL, Appleton, WI
Firstar Trust of Illinois
First Wisconsin Trust, West Palm Beach, FL
Wisconsin Electric, Milwaukee, WI
AT&T, Milwaukee, WI
Hanaway, Ross, Hanaway, Weidner, Garrity & Bachhuber, S.C., Green Bay, WI
numerous private collections