Gary LeDrew Bio

Gary LeDrew is from Louisbourg but was born in Montreal on July 4 1942(his Father had a wartime job in Montreal and returned to Louisbourg when he was 2)
and as a child he Iived on Louisbourg Lighthouse for3 years. The family then moved to Uxbridge Ontario. Gary was the first boy ever to take Art Class rather than Agriculture. He spent 3 years in the Navy. Afterwards he apprenticed as Silk screen Printer. He worked as a shepherd, a steelworker, Assistant manager of a gravel pit as he worked on an Auto racing team and a Stainless-steel mill operator. He collected unemployment as a shepherd while taking classes at the Artist Workshop. He was refused at the Ontario College of Art because he had failed math. So, he improved his Art education by becoming friends with Toronto's leading artists. Like Jack Bush, Harold Town, Robert Hedrick, Gershon Iskowitz, and Robert Markle to name a few. worked on Art projects for Exp067 and was a part of the Toronto art Scene working with many Artists. He made T-shirts including ones for the Group of Seven's 50th Anniversary. He made and taught graphics and audio/visuals at Centennial College for 1 year He got married and returned to Uxbridge where he taught Arts and Crafts at Browndale and edited their magazine. He was vice president of the Legion and chairman of the 1972 Uxbridge Centennial committee. He had several Art Shows over the years and Many Offices, Banks, businesses, and homes still display his work. After his marriage he went sailing in the Caribbean for 1 a year or so and sailed a 56 ft Sailboat from Nassau back to Toronto. He managed a jazz band. He delivered racing yachts. He operated an infamous afterhours club for 5 years whose clientele included the Rolling Stones and Peter Gzowski. He worked as an assistant producer in the Movie biz wrote a couple of screenplays and tried to produce one. Failing that he lived on a sailboat on Toronto Island for a year. Here he also learned computers using one a friend gave him. He wanted to make art on his computer .it was so difficult to make graphics at that time that he accidently became expert on computers and was hired as an executive for a large Computer company which he did for lO years. Afterwards he had his own computer business in Toronto and Uxbridge while he also created Art and had shows in Toronto and Uxbridge. After his family passed away and Uxbridge got it's 3 rd traffic light he returned to Cape Breton and bought a house in Louisbourg. In 2018 he managed the Watersedge Gallery in Baddeck and was their featured Artist. He now resides in Sydney with his dog Peanut and sells his Art at the Cape Breton Farmer's Market. He did well selling his prints to cruise ships so when he received some disability money from Veteran’s Affairs and opened a Art Gallery on Charlette street which failed. Both parents were Artists so I had the tools to make Art from an early age and I have worked in most mediums Oil, watercolour, wood carving collage etc.etc For the last 30 years I have developed my own style of digital art where I compose and paint on the computer and output to prints on canvas and watercolour paper. I like developing paintings of Cape Breton Historic buildings. but I do paintings of all sorts including abstract. I recently opened and closed a Gallery on charlotte street. I now have 3 major murals 12 ft by 8 ft on Commercial Street in North Sydney and 2 at NorthStar hotel in Louisbourg My work can be seen www.capebretonart.com Gary LeDrew 235a Alexandra St. Apt 17 Sydney, Nova Scotia B1S3A4 Home 902 500-0054 Cell 782 777-6277