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Gilbert Amavisca Biography

Gilbert Amavisca was born and raised in the Sacramento area. After graduating high school and attending one semester at Sacramento City College, he enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1970 and served for four years active duty.

In 1974, Gilbert returned to Sacramento City College as a Fine Arts Major. He studied with the following instructors: Fred Dalkey, Greg Kondos, Larry Weldon, and Darrell Forney. After receiving his AA degree, Gilbert attended Brigham Young University for three semesters and studied with James Christensen, Franz Johansen and Ray Magelby.

From 1978 to 1988 Gilbert postponed his art career to attend to the immediate responsibilities of raising five children.

Gilbert resumed his art career with an art show in the Michael Himovitz Gallery in 1988. From 1995 to present, he has participated in 5 to 6 outdoor art festivals a year, throughout Northern California.
From 1994 to present, Gilbert has participated in the annual art auctions for the Crocker Art Museum, KVIE public TV, BVA (Business Volunteers in the Arts), all organizations in Sacramento. During his inactive art years when he found the time to attend an art class, he would study figure drawing. Gilbert once had a favorite instructor tell him, “Always draw and study the human figure. If you can draw the figure you can do anything.” So from 1978 to 1988 his dominate medium for art work was charcoal. In 1988 during a class in portrait drawing, Gilbert saw a demonstration in soft pastels. It seemed like the perfect medium to make the transition from black and white to color. He bought a set of pastel and has been using this medium for figurative works since 1988 to today.

In 1992 Gilbert started experimenting with oil paint. He tried different brands of paint and different painting surfaces. By 1995 he discovered that he enjoyed painting the landscape, with oils, on paper.