Gavin Glakas grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, and started drawing about when he started walking. He studied at Washington University in St. Louis and the Slade School of Fine Art in London. After graduation, he spent a year in Athens, Greece, as an illustrator. After returning to the U.S., Glakas spent a year and a half working as a Senate staffer on Capitol Hill. He had planned to go to law school but, after an eight-month illness culminating in removing a tumor from his lung at the age of 24, decided to pursue his lifelong ambition of a career as an artist. Glakas began showing his work in galleries almost immediately. He has won numerous honors for his artwork, including awards from the Portrait Society of America and the Butler Institute of American Art. His paintings have been featured on NBC News and in American Art Collector, International Artist, Art Business News, Elan, and The Strand magazines and exhibited at museums and galleries nationwide. Glakas’ paintings hang in the United States Capitol, the House of Representatives Armed Forces Committee, Georgetown University, The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, the Ratner Museum in Bethesda, and numerous private collections. Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA, and Charleston, SC, represents the artist. He paints full-time and teaches figure painting and drawing at the Yellow Barn Studio in Glen Echo, MD, as well as workshops in Tuscany and Palm Beach.