Halsgrove - Imprint: Halstar. ISBN 978 1 906690 18 2, hardback, 260x270mm, 144 pages. Published November 2009.

Grace Gardner has devoted a lifetime to painting, a rich and varied career from which the subtitle of this book is aptly drawn. In his Foreword, Brian Stewart, Director of Falmouth Art Gallery, provides an eloquent and affectionate portrait of this remarkable artist:
"Grace Gardner can make colours dance. She spreads great joy through her vibrant and innovative paintings. Through a long and distinguished career Grace has embraced a wide variety of art – African art, Surrealism and Pop Art. However, it is as an abstract painter that she is now chiefly known.

"Grace is a regular visitor and supporter of Falmouth Art Gallery and in 2004 she generously donated a selection of her seminal paintings to the town’s collection. Like people, paintings change with the company they keep, and it is interesting to see how nineteenth century masterpieces in Falmouth’s collection by Waterhouse, Burne-Jones, Hemy and Tuke have all taken on a new life when hung next to a Grace Gardner abstract. It continues to be a great pleasure to display her paintings in the gallery and to see the sparkle on people’s faces, young and old, whilst they enjoy them."

In this superbly illustrated book, containing over 100 major works and many drawings and etchings, the artists tells her fascinating life story set against the background of her ‘Life in Art’.

Born in the 1920s Grace Gardner’s dedication to art began in her native America inspired by visits to the The Art Institute of Chicago where she was taken as a child by her father, and later attended as a student. Her childhood interest grew into a lifelong passion, developed and encouraged further by visits to Europe and the Far East. Etching and painting has formed the backbone of Grace’s work but she has always been open to new techniques and influences, often inspired by fellow artists whom she met and admired. A permanent move to Cornwall in 1982 brought her in close contact with many of the important figures in British art who had made St Ives their home. Her collection of works by these artists, among them Roy Walker, Paul Feiler, Gill Watkiss and Michael Praed has recently been donated to the Falmouth Art Gallery. Grace continues to live and work in Cornwall from her studio in Flushing.