GJ Gillespie

Days of Future Passed
Mixed media collage by GJ Gillespie
Oak Harbor Library
1000 SE Regatta Dr, Oak Harbor, WA
November 3 to 28, 2026

I MAKE ART that looks as if it survived.
Each piece starts with found papers meant to be thrown away: grocery ads, crossword puzzles, fast food wrappers. I cut them and layer them, then add spray paint, ink, and graphite, and obscure parts with tissue, cheesecloth, even river clay, until the surface carries the patina of an object once revered and then lost.

The compositions draw on mid-century abstract expressionism, as if a painting from that era had been dug up centuries later with no record of who made it. The newest pieces turn to geometry, borrowing from the post-war paintings of the Canadian painter B.C. Binning. Every title comes from rock or folk music.

About the Artist
GJ Gillespie (b. 1955) is a mixed media collage artist working in the Northwest Mystics and mid-century abstract expressionist traditions. He builds his work from found and discarded papers, and his surfaces owe as much to Morris Graves, Mark Tobey, and Kenneth Callahan as to Gorky and de Kooning.
His work has appeared in 222 literary and art journals and in 77 exhibitions. Winner of 19 award including most recently a Merit Award from the Northwest Collage Society. He is Professor Emeritus of Communication at Northwest University where he taught for 32 years.
and currently owner of Leda Art Supply, a premium sketchbook company. 
He lives on Whidbey Island, Washington.

About the Art 

Pieces of the Sky by GJ Gillespie.

Mixed media collage on canvas. 48 x 30 x 2. 2026. $950. Title after a 2006 song by Beth Orton. Merit Award, Northwest Collage Society 2026 Spring Show, Slip Gallery, Seattle (May 8 to June 4, 2026). Published in Lone Mountain Literary Society, Winter 2026. MORE 

Days of Future Passed by GJ Gillespie.

Mixed media collage on polystyrene panel mounted on a wood frame. 14.25 x 42.5 x 1.5. 2026. $950. Title after the 1967 album by the Moody Blues. More 

I Think They Call This Love by GJ Gillespie.

 




Mixed media collage on canvas. 24 x 24 x 1.5. 2026. $950. Title after the 2024 song by Elliot James Reay. 

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun by GJ Gillespie. 

Mixed media collage on board. 38 x 26. 2026. $1,500. Title after the 1968 Pink Floyd song. Appeared in Modern Myth Making, City of Burien Gallery Program, Merrill Gardens (June 5 to September 24, 2026). Accepted for publication in Trace Fossils Review literary magazine. More 

Time of Your Life by GJ Gillespie.

Mixed media collage. 31 x 39. [year]. [price]. Title after the Green Day song "Time of Your Life.” Published in Meat for Tea: The Valley Review, September 2023. More. 

California Dreaming by GJ Gillespie.

Mixed media collage on board. 20 x 16. 2020. $800. Title after the 1965 song by the Mamas and the Papas. Published as cover art in DeLuge Journal, Fall/Winter 2021. Appeared in the Langley BC Canada Arts Council Gillespie Solo Show (April 12 to May 24, 2023). More, 

21st Century Schizoid Man by GJ Gillespie.

 
Mixed media collage on canvas. 23.5 x 12 x 1. 2024. $600. Title after the 1969 song by King Crimson. More. 

Wayfaring Stranger by GJ Gillespie.

Mixed media collage on canvas. 24 x 36. 2026. $1,800. Title after a traditional Appalachian folk song. Accepted for publication in Suspended Magazine, Issue 4, 2026. Appeared in Modern Myth Making, City of Burien Gallery Program, Merrill Gardens (June 5 to September 24, 2026). Wayfaring Stranger

To purchase: All works are for sale. Contact garjog@gmail.com.