Rising Fawn Folk Art Presents
Y. G. Casey
See Her Works
Biography
Y. G. Casey (1923 - 2002)
Born Francesca “Yvonne” Gerstlaver, her first home was
Jacksonville, Alabama, where she would later return to marry and raise
three children. Her adolescent years were Yvonne’s most
memorable, spent in both Bucks and Carbon Counties in rural
Pennsylvania. Many of her earlier works recall these pleasant
times.
Yvonne’s formal education and her later teaching assignments were
in the fields of English, political science, drama and piano. She
was also active in various business activities while raising a
family. She led a most active life of travel in which she
observed many different regional attitudes and environments, which she
displays with humor in her art.
After retirement “Casey,” as she liked to be called, came
to the eastern Tennessee Valley to be near her two sons. Settling
down, at the age of 75 with her many feline friends, Casey decided in
the summer of 1998 to sell plates and bowls which she decorated, at the
local Chattanooga market. This was to help her supplement her
Social Security that was not covering her basic needs. In October
a donation of an empty picture frame with glass became Casey’s
first canvas. Using Testor’s enamel paints, Casey first
drew a multitude of random lines in black on the glass surface, then
slowly turning the pane of glass she finds a starting point at which
she begins to unravel her puzzle and form the painting by adding
figures and colors, working from 3 PM to 3 AM daily.
Casey sadly passed unexpectedly in May of 2002, after producing a
painting every week for nearly four years. She is greatly missed.
