Gavin Glakas grew up in Bethesda, MD and studied at Washington University in St. Louis and the Slade School of Fine Art in London.

After graduation, Glakas worked on Capitol Hill as a Senate staffer and planned to go to law school, but after an eight-month illness culminating in the removal of a tumor from his lung at the age of 24, he decided to pursue his lifelong ambition of a career as an artist.

Glakas’ portraits hang in the permanent collections of the United States Capitol, the Virginia State Capitol, the CIA, universities, museums and numerous collections both public and private.

He is represented by Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA and Charleston, SC, and Palm Avenue Fine Art in Sarasota, FL.

He has won numerous honors for his artwork, including awards from the Portrait Society of America, the Art Renewal Center, the Plein Air Salon and the Butler Institute of American Art. His paintings have been featured on NBC News and in The Washington Post, as well as magazines and other media, and exhibited at museums and galleries throughout the country.

Glakas lives in McLean, VA, with his wife, Jasmine, and two barnstorming sons, Nico and Rory.

Contemporary landscape artist Jill Basham was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Columbia, Maryland. Basham comes from a family with a multi-generational history of artists. She grew up with an interest in art, yet it was not until later in adulthood that she began oil painting. Once she began, she has never looked back.

Basham is known for her plein air and studio landscape paintings, celebrated for their rich atmosphere and expressive sense of place. While she often paints outdoors on location, she also develops her work in the studio. Deeply inspired by the natural beauty of the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding areas, she remains equally drawn to any scene that evokes an emotional response, whether close to home or discovered in her travels.

Jill has been honored to participate in and earn numerous awards in national plein air events and art exhibitions. Presently, her work is in corporate and private collections as well as in the permanent collections of museums. She is on the Board of Directors for Oil Painters of America. In addition, she is a signature member of both Oil Painters of America as well as The American Society of Marine Artists. Jill is also an artist member of The American Impressionist Society, as well as two historic art institutions; The Salmagundi Club, NYC, and The Washington Society of Landscape Painters.

Jill now resides near the Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where the local landscape continues to inspire her work. She is drawn to any scene that sparks an emotional response, allowing her to translate the beauty and atmosphere of a place onto canvas.