Biography
Beverly (Gayleen) Aiken started painting as a child and never stopped. Major themes in her work are the old farmhouse where she grew up, the granite industry, and musical instruments.
She found a receptive audience for her work in Don Sunseri, the founder of "Grass Roots Art and Community Efforts (GRACE)," which is located in Hardwick, Vermont. GRACE provides elderly and disabled people with art materials and served as a catalyst for Aiken's introduction to a wider audience for her art.
When she was nine years old, she created the Raimbilli cousins, 24 fictitious characters whose adventures she wrote and drew about. Aiken's work has been shown in major exhibits of American folk art in the US and Europe, and is in the permanent collection of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum of American Folk Art in Williamsburg, Virginia. She was also the subject of Jay Craven's award winning film "Gayleen", and the recipient of a Vermont Council on the Arts Fellowship. She has been featured in "Smithsonian Magazine" and is the subject of an Abrams Press book, "Moonlight and Music: The Enchanted World of Gayleen Aiken."Occupation
Artist