Gayleen Aiken was born in 1934 and spent most of her life in Barre, Vermont. She started painting as a child and continued throughout her life. Gayleen Aiken’s work has been shown in major exhibits of American art in the US and Europe, and is in the permanent collection of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum of American Folk Art, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and the American Folk Art Museum as well as many private collections.
She was the subject of Jay Craven’s award winning film “Gayleen”, and the recipient of a Vermont Council on the Arts Fellowship. “Moonlight and Music: The Enchanted World of Gayleen Aiken” was published by Harry Abrams, inc. in September 1997. Gayleen passed away unexpectedly in March 2005 at the age of 71.