Ken Gulley                                                          b. 1948 d. 2013

Ken Gulley was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After serving in the Navy, during the Vietnam War, Ken relocated to California where he began pursuing his dream of becoming an artist. He first lived in Davis, CA where he painted a notable public mural in the Lower Freedom Hall of the Experimental College at the University of California. After moving to Oakland in 1974, he became heavily involved with the Upstairs Art Association. He showed in the Upstairs Art Gallery regularly and was published in their periodicals. He eventually became the Assistant Program Director with the organization. Starting in 1979 Ken shared an art studio in Oakland’s Chinatown until building caught fire in 1989.

In 1982 Ken was accepted into the Crocker-Kingsley 57th Annual Competition, in Sacramento, CA. He held solo exhibitions at Oakland’s Mimosa Cafe, Pronto Espresso,Paradise Cafe, and exhibited at the California Town and Country Spring Fair Invitational Art Show in Napa. In 1982, Ken earned a Programing Certificate from the Computer Learning Center in  San Francisco, CA. Three years later He completed his Associate of Arts degree from Laney College in Oakland and enrolled in the the School of Creative Arts at San Francisco State University. While earning a Bachelor of Arts in Conceptual Design and Film Studies, Ken began to re-explore his passion for screenwriting which began years before while in Los Angeles. Soon after completing his BFA in 1988, he began working towards his Master of Fine Arts degree in Conceptual Design. His thesis, which he completed in 1991, introduced the World Vane project. It would become an overarching theme in his work and ideas for the next two decades. Ken was a member of Mensa and showed work in multiple Mensa group shows throughout the Bay Area during the early 1990’s.    

In 1996 he married, Taisia Nikonishchenko, a Russian native. Together they faced many difficulties, but always made priority for Ken’s art. Among other projects, Ken began to re-focus himself on a film script “Pilgrim” he began a decade earlier. In the mid-2000’s Ken became involved with Scary Cow Productions, based in San Francisco. He took on many roles, most notably working as a writer, director, editor, and designer or the collective. From 1999 to 2012, Ken was a docent at the USS Hornet Museum. He was a part of Air Group and Live Onboard staff. He was a Hanger Deck Supervisor on the Saturday Crew and part of the Docent Council. He helped establish the Educational Department’s Paranormal Program and was very passionate about the program. In 2011, Ken was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, and after battling with the disease for two years, passed away in December of 2013, at age 65. Thanks to the efforts of his widow, Taisia, Ken’s legacy is continuing to live on through exhibitions of his work. A series of his black light paintings, first created during the early 1970’s were exhibited in November of 2014 at Studio 23 Gallery in Alameda, California.

“A Life-Long seeker, Ken Explored many dimensions and many concepts of reality. His paintings carry all the complexity and beauty of his universe.”