McKinney artist Gail Delger recycles computer parts and other materials in her work. Above, "Bionic Fish" incorporates a circuit board and found metals. Courtesy of the artist.

Jan. 20, 2015

When I first walked into the LAST Art Gallery in McKinney a few weeks ago, Gail Delger’s work jumped out at me. Literally! 

"As the Crow Flies." Photo by Guillaume de Vaudrey.

Delger works on canvas, but she extends her art off the canvas too. For example, a painting of a group of black crows comes alive as one stuffed crow perches on top of the canvas on an electrical wire.

It is that ability to think “outside the box” that also makes Delger a big fan of using recycled material and eco-friendly methods in her art too.

Like some other recycle artists, she uses circuit boards and other pieces of metal to make cyber-robot type pieces. But how many artists have you seen using the dried acrylic paint left on their palettes? These splotches become part of her bird painting series called “Bird Do.”

Left, "Dog Ride." Below, "Cat Samples Bird." Both incorporate dried paint peeled from Delger's palette. Courtesy of the artist.

“I found that when my acrylic paint dried on my palette, I was able to peel the paint off and reuse it rather than throw it away,” Delger explains. “I tear the pieces of paint, lay them on paper and move them around until I get the right shapes for birds and other animals, then they get glued down.”

Delger says the bird paintings are her favorite and probably most popular with customers as well. 

“I have been posting one bird collage a week for almost two years now on a blog at BirdDo.com.”

For the circuit board figures, Delger uses small computer parts as well as scrap metal she finds while walking. 

“Once they look the way I want them to, I wire the pieces to a mat board, then they get framed.”

“The robots are a little more time consuming,” she explains. “I will usually create several birds a week and maybe a robot once or twice a month.”

Left, "Cyber Long-Legged Cow." Courtesy of the artist. 

Delger also makes whimsical and unique pieces of art she says “so people will smile when they see them.”

Her ideas usually come around 5 a.m. she said.

“For some reason that is the time when I get a visual picture of a creation.” 

Living just outside the city of McKinney, the artist lives in New Hope and has been painting since 1990. 

Delger’s pieces are relatively small and each range in price from $75 to $200. 

She recently opened LAST Art Gallery in McKinney located at 105 W. Louisiana St. As for why the name, she says “Last is the abbreviation of Louisiana Street.” There are 15 additional artists who also display their work at LAST Art Gallery too. 

For more information, visit Gail Delger's website.

Above, Gail Delger at the LAST Art Gallery in McKinney. Photo by Guillaume de Vaudrey.

Rita Cook is an Arlington-based award-winning journalist who writes or has written for the Dallas Morning News, Focus Daily News, Waxahachie Daily Light, Dreamscapes Travel Magazine, Porthole, Core Media, Fort Worth Star Telegram and many other publications in Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago. With five books published, her latest release is “A Brief History of Fort Worth” published by History Press. Contact her at rcook13@earthlink.net.

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