Gary Packingham Artist Bio

Gary Lives in Norton Shores, Michigan and is a Member of the Michigan Watercolor Society. Currently, one of his works (Art at the Dawn of Creation) has been juried into the MWCS 79th Annual Exhibit. 

 

The path on the  journey to becoming a successful painter was one filled with many twists and turns. Initially Gary attended the Columbus College of Art & Design. This lasted only a year, as the urgency of the 1960s anti-war protests led to a life-course change and majoring in political science.​ College was  interrupted by four years in the Navy where he served as a corpsman assigned to the U.S. Marines. Following the service, Gary returned to college at Ohio State University and entering local politics. In 1976 he joined the Jimmy Carter Presidential Campaign and ended up working in the Carter White House.

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By 1980 this remarkable and brief political career was over.  Following Carter's defeat, Gary embarked on a new career as a political cartoonist, combining his art and political backgrounds. By 1984 Gary was a frequent contributor to the Washington Post. In 1987 he moved to Michigan to cartoon for papers across the state. After retirement, he donated his cartoons to the collection of the Michigan State Library Archives where they reside as part of the state’s history.

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Following retirement from political cartooning,  Gary returned to his lifelong passion of painting, initially in watercolor and recently including works in egg tempera. 

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This journey through politics and art has been like a box of chocolates, to quote Forrest Gump, "You never know what you're gonna get."