Josette Simon-Gestin grew up in Brittany, France where she studied art at the Beaux-arts in Rennes. She moved to Oklahoma City in 1987. She started to print at the Paseo Intaglio Printers and to show her art in group and individual shows. Her art work was shown in Florida, Missouri, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana and in Japan. She later moved to Philadelphia where she got involved with the Women’s Caucus for Art and Art at the Armory. After three years, her family and she returned to Europe. In Italy, Austria, and France, her work was exhibited in several galleries. In Brittany for four years, she reconnected with her roots and was invited to show in the Euroceltic Festival in Lorient. During this stay in Europe, her work was still shown in the United States and was acquired by private and public collections such as Hyatt Hotel Hawaii, Mayo Clinic Minneapolis and, in Oklahoma, at the Health Science Center, Coach House restaurant, and Irish Realty among many other collections. Her work is part of the Oklahoma State University collection at Stillwater, OK. She was part of the Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts 11 times and was the poster artist in 1992. She has had several one-person exhibits in Oklahoma at the Norick Art Center Oklahoma City University, City Art Center, Pickard Gallery, Untitled ArtSpace, Nault Fine Art. She is currently represented in OK by Objets Trouvés. In Rockville MD, she was part of a residency program to work on the link between creativity, childhood and art. She has shown her work in Copenhagen at the French Cultural institute, at Global Art Gallery and Gallerie Lorien with the Artival festival. Among other places her work has also been displayed at the UMK, the Danish minister of foreign affairs. Back in Brittany since 2017, she has shown her work at hôpital Bretagne sud and Saint-Grégoire institut supérieur des Experts-Comptables, at Improbable Jardin gallery and at the Ploemeur médiathèque.and in Vannes at XO conseil. She is part of the 101 Kunstnere book, 101 artists in Denmark for 2018-2019 and the Dots on the wall catalog, exhibit at the Lorien Gallerie in Copenhagen. She is currently showing her ink drawings “Encres de Chine” at Untitled Artspace in Oklahoma City and she is preparing for “Ne vois-tu rien venir” a one person exhibit at Objets Trouves in Oklahoma opening October 21.
