Early life and career Maud Gatewood grew up in Yanceyville and attended
Bartlett Yancey High School. When she was sixteen she enrolled at the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina, which is presently the
University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Finishing her undergraduate coursework in 1954, Gatewood continued her art studies at
Ohio State University where she received a
Master of Fine Arts degree. In 1963, Gatewood won a Fulbright grant to study art in
Austria under renowned painter
Oskar Kokoschka. Returning to North Carolina, she began teaching art at the
University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She later left her position at the school in 1973, desiring more time to paint. In 1975, Gatewood became a professor at
Averett University, where she taught until her retirement in 1997. During this time, she was also the first woman elected to the
Caswell County Board of Commissioners in 1976, where she advocated for economic development, land use planning, and expanded human services. During her lifetime, Gatewood’s work was exhibited at museums and galleries throughout the United States, particularly in the
Southeastern United States. Her paintings also entered private and institutional collections, including the
National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, D.C.). Gatewood won numerous awards during her artistic career, including an art award from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1972 and the North Carolina Award in Fine Arts in 1984. ==Legacy==