Dennis-Yarmouth high school art student Gabrielle Gomez
First in a monthly series of profiles of standout art students on Cape Cod & the Islands.
Gabrielle Gomez is an 18-year-old senior at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School and this month’s featured art student. The focus of Gabrielle’s work is mixed painting and collage. The majority of her work includes the use of painting, which oftentimes is of a figure or just a mash of color. But for Gabrielle the painting is only the beginning; it’s the addition of various items like magazine or newspaper clippings, old keys, paper clips and bottle caps, popping out of a painting, that makes herwork unique and come to life.
“I never find myself liking just one thing on a page,”, says Gomez “ I like to take things from life, life has more than one dimension and I like to reflect that in my art.”
Gabrielle’s love for art began when she was very young. Being surrounded by art her whole life, she credits her family as the source of much of her inspiration. She recalls her father working part-time as a cartoonist when she was around six years old but it was her grandmother, Mary Lou Long, who was responsible for Gabrielle’s interest in art. A life-long Cape Codder, Gabrielle’s grandmother spent much of her time doing crafts, sewing outfits and creating costumes. But at the age of 11, Gabrielle lost her mentor and role-model when her grandmother passed away and she took with her the joy and happiness that art brought to Gabrielle.
“I couldn’t do art anymore, I just couldn’t think of art in the same way,” she said.
Soon after, Gabrielle and her family had to leave their home on Cape Cod and move to Texas when her step-father, a soldier in the U.S. Army, was stationed there. They stayed in Texas for five years and the whole time Gabrielle stayed away from art. It wasn’t until they moved back to Cape Cod in her sophomore year that everything changed.
“It was seeing the great art program at Dennis-Yarmouth High School that actually inspired me to take up art again and do more with it,” she said. “Without it I think I would just be sad. I would feel empty without art.”
Passing through the corridors of the high school into the art department, it is easy to see why Gabrielle’s passion for art was reignited here. The walls of the corridors seem to come to life with bright colors and murals. Passersby are greeted with endless displays of ceramics, paintings and sculpture depicting the dedication, creativity and incredible talent of the students and the staff.
Gomez’ ‘Rambling Thoughts’ is on display at the Cape Cod Museum of Art.
The most challenging part of being an artist for Gabrielle is coming up with new content and the fear of the feedback. She says that she handles the negative criticism by changing it into something positive by using it to make her next piece even better. Gabrielle uses skeletons and “zombiesque” images in several of her pieces.
“People see some of my stuff as morbid but I find interest in things that are dark,” she said. “You can make it seem happy if you want to, or you can make it seem even darker, it’s all how you play with the subject.”
Her advice to younger artists is simple, “draw what you love. If you don’t think you are good, who cares? If no one else likes it, who cares? It’s your drawing, love it. Just keep practicing and you’ll get better.”
In addition to being a standout artist, Gabrielle is also a strong academic student; she maintains a 3.7 GPA, ranking 16th in a class of 191.
“Artists have to be smart to get into the best schools,” says Dan Springer, the Visual Arts Chair at D-Y Regional High School.
Gabrielle is planning to further her education and wishes to combine her study of art with psychology toward a degree in recreational therapy. She would like one day to help others express their feeling through drawing. She is in the process of applying to Mass. College of Art, UMass-Dartmouth, the Museum of Fine Arts’ School of Fine Arts as well as Montserrat College of Art, where her portfolio has already been reviewed and approved for admission consideration.
Gabrielle at work.
Gabrielle has received awards from the Barnstable County Fair for paintings she submitted, she’s had her work featured in a Mass. Arts Exhibit and currently has a piece hanging at the Cape Cod Museum of Art. She is grateful to live in a community like Cape Cod where art is perceived as something great.
According to Springer, Gabrielle will be up for several senior awards this year.
“If you want to produce students like this; you need a program like the one they have here,” he said.
D-Y boasts a nationally recognized award-winning art program with a curriculum that covers everything from Drawing and Painting to Advanced Dark Room Photo and a 3-D Studio Art Advanced Placement class.
When Gabrielle is not painting or studying she can be found hanging with her twin sister, playing basketball, writing or working at Ocean State Job Lot. It was truly a pleasure to spend time with Gabrielle and to share her wonderful talents as well as a bit of her story. We wish Gabrielle the best of luck in all of her future endeavors.
– By Kristen Levy
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