Home Artist Programs Supported Artists Gabrielle Tolliver

Gabrielle Tolliver

New Orleans, Louisiana

This vertically oriented canvas, titled Fetty, is painted thickly with wide strokes, perhaps with a palette knife in shades of oyster and snow white. Rectangular pieces of straw-yellow material, perhaps paper or fabric, appear collaged onto the surface.

Fetty

2024

This rectangular canvas, titled Levis Jeans (Hope It Was Worth It), is painted thickly with pearl white skimmed over shades of pale blue, yellow, and purple. A topaz-blue vertical strip slices through the rightmost third.

Levis Jeans (Hope It Was Worth It)

2024

A disk is painted with watercolor and acrylic in this work titled Ghost: CP (Culminating Point). Fingers and washes of flame orange, mauve pink, muted blue, pine green, and shell pink overlap and bleed into each other. The orb sets on a cloud-like form against an ocean-blue background.

Ghost: CP (Culminating Point)

2023

This monotype, titled Birth and Rebirth, is made up of a circle and angular shapes painted with mellow tones of orange, peach, and blue in swirls and washes. The shapes overlap against a white background.

Birth and Rebirth

2020

Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.

About Gabrielle Tolliver

Gabrielle Tolliver stands in front of a brightly painted mural. She is a Black woman with a long afro, and she wears a black blazer as she smiles at us from over one shoulder.

Gabrielle Tolliver, an abstract visionary and community catalyst, is a New Orleans-born visual artist specializing in abstract expressionism. Her work explores the complexities of human emotion through fluid, layered compositions that mirror the unpredictable rhythms of memory, identity, and healing. Using watercolor, acrylic, and ink, her intuitive process allows each layer to evolve organically, resulting in one-of-a-kind creations. Her work has been exhibited at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Studio BE, the CICA Museum, and internationally at M.A.D.S. Gallery in Milan. Tolliver has received support from the National Performance Network, Red Bull, and Arts Council New Orleans. As Director of Youth Programs and Partnerships at Arts New Orleans, she fosters creative opportunities for emerging artists and collaborates with organizations like the Contemporary Arts Center and YAYA. Represented by Where Y’Art Gallery, Tolliver continues to inspire through a bold, compassionate lens rooted in community and cultural dialogue.

Program Participation

Joan Mitchell Center Residency, 2026

Website / Social Links

“ My artistic practice centers on the emotional resonance of fluidity—both in medium and meaning. Working primarily with watercolor, acrylic paint, and ink, I build layered compositions through a call and response method that allows the materials to guide the process as much as I do.”