The Gail Keenan Art Center (GKAC) was dedicated in February 2011 to the memory of the recognized ceramic artist and printmaker who was born in 1940 in New Orleans and passed away in February 2005. Ms. Keenan’s ties to the MS Gulf Coast were strong throughout her lifetime, during which she had works exhibited in Santa Cruz, CA; New Orleans, LA; Chicago, IL; Kansas City, KA; Ocean Springs, MS; Camden, ME; and Boston, MA, Ms. Keenan’s love for the arts continues to be honored in the works created and exhibited in the Coast Episcopal School signature art center.
The GKAC furthers the mission of Coast Episcopal School: fostering a lifelong love of learning while enhancing the school’s longstanding emphasis on both academic excellence and the arts. The mission of the art gallery is to accompany and enhance arts education at CES and its connection to the development of the whole child.
The gallery provides a visual space for the students to nurture and express their artistic talents and “experience” themselves as creative contributors to our world. It serves as a teaching resource to enable students to make connections between art and life, while expanding learning opportunities through the robust visiting artists program. Through exhibiting works of regional artists, the gallery serves the community at large and increases awareness of the broad education offered at Coast Episcopal School.
The Gail Keenan Art Gallery brings artists from local and regional areas to engage with the students allowing them to better understand themselves and to foster a lifelong appreciation for the arts.
