Midtown History: Geri McGilvray
Interview & photos by Annette Ashton

Much has been written about Midtown artist and musician Geri McGilvray over the years—here’s the Midtown version.

Geri is a Bay Area girl, born in San Jose, but her family moved to Sacramento when she was a few months old. She twinkles as she explains that she escaped at 11 when her family moved back to San Francisco -- the Broadmoor – and her “life” started then. Her mother let her take the bus everywhere! It was wonderful; it was only a two mile walk to the beach. She especially loved the fog.


Geri was born with a love of art. She was not able to take her eyes off a picture of an angel hanging near her crib. In Sacramento, her mother took her to the Crocker Art Gallery after church, where she was fascinated by a painting of a Russian wedding, and the gallery became her favorite place to go. Although her parents knew she loved art, they had no idea that their daughter--their little blond angel--would become an artist. Although art class was her favorite in high school, class projects were slow moving and were mostly crafts like in Brownie camp. There was no opportunity to do anything creative like the drawing and sketching that Geri loved. She also loved books, words and especially writing poetry.

Geri went to San Francisco City College and San Francisco State studying nutrition and physical fitness, and working her way through at JC Penney selling little boys’ jeans (what a place for a talented person!) In her last semester, she took an elective art class, astounding her teacher with her talent. After college she took a six week art history tour of Europe (awarded by the California Scholarship Federation), traveling to all the western European countries – Greece, Italy, France, England – studying with great people. “It was so exciting for an artist – the architecture, the cathedrals,” she recalls. Geri hadn't started painting yet, but she did keep meticulous notes of her travels in her journals peppered with many sketches.


After her marriage, she moved to Redwood City. When daughter Maureen and son Chuck were toddlers, Geri began to paint. She attended an art class at Sequoia Adult Education where her teachers were the extraordinary watercolorist, Ralph Ledesma, and oil painter Richard Inman, and she joined the Sequoia Art Club.

“As soon as I started painting, that’s all I did,” she remembers. Her greatest influence was the extremely popular kinetogenics artist Richard Bowman, frequently featured in MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) and Architectural Digest.


She worked in textured oils and everything sold or won awards. Geri was asked to substitute teaching art, where she was so popular that her entire class petitioned for her to continue. “I let them learn, and my classes were always full,” said Geri. She taught art for many years at Paly and Cubberley adult school as well as ceramics for Avenidas and is proud of her lifetime teaching credential.

Geri has two grown children - a boy and girl, each with 2 sons. Divorced, she raised both children alone by working in residential real estate. She did have art shows but felt that to be taken seriously, she needed to do art full time, so she left real estate in the late 90s to do so and has had her studio since then, proudly participating in Open Studio for 11 years.

For fun, Geri plays the guitar and sings. The love of her life, Mike Bechler, is also a musician. On their first date, they talked music and played guitars. “I couldn't believe he knew all the same songs that I did.” They perform acoustic folk music locally, occasionally at Midtown Residents Association Ice Cream Socials! She still takes guitar lessons and faithfully attends the annual “Hardly Strictly Blue Grass” music festival in San Francisco.

How has her art changed over the years? Due to an allergy, Geri has moved away from oils to acrylics and now paints in many other media forms. Her friend and colleague Sue Eddins expresses Geri’s art as follows: “There is a lyrical quality expressed in her work, from imaginative brush strokes to a bold expressive use of colors. Geri loves to express her feelings and ideals. Her work conveys memories and images over the years from abstract expressions to impressionist paintings.” Geri is thrilled that her paintings have found a home in every state in the US and is grateful for her life, her family and friends and for being able to share art with her grandchildren.
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