Ian M. Gaudreau

Ian Gaudreau is a multifaceted interdisciplinary artist who defies traditional categorization. Born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, he graduated from high school in Mansfield, MA. After winning several art awards, he was encouraged to pursue art school at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he received the Chancellor’s Art Award, a prestigious tuition waiver.

During his time there, Ian studied abroad in the south of France and Paris, visiting numerous art museums across France, the United Kingdom, and Norway. He earned degrees in Art History and Painting.

After college, Ian sought to live in a vibrant city but wasn’t ready to move to Boston or New York; instead, he settled in Providence, Rhode Island. It was there that he realized corporate America wasn’t a good fit for him. He quit his “dream job” at Hasbro and, in 2007, founded his own graphic design company, IMG Designs.

He created graphics and photographed for various startups, magazines, restaurants, nightclubs, and private commissions. Through this work, he met many passionate individuals, and brick by brick, he built connections with business owners, leading to increasingly significant commissions including graphic design, interior design, storefront signs, and mural painting, working in both 2D and 3D.

In 2011, Ian discovered a simple advertisement in the Mansfield News calling for an artist to paint a 400-foot-long retaining wall in his hometown. He didn’t know it then, but this opportunity would change the trajectory of his life.

For the next five years, Ian dedicated himself to this project. After two years of research, development, and obtaining town approval, he created a sketch and began painting in 2013. For the next three years, he worked six months each year to tell the story of Mansfield, Massachusetts’ history. His efforts earned him the Mansfield Historical Preservation Award and a proclamation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

This major accomplishment, despite its challenges, strengthened Ian and instilled in him a profound sense of perseverance, resilience, and fortitude. Over the next decade, he executed numerous public and private commissions between Providence and Boston.

Ian is passionate about his craft and believes that an artist’s education is never complete. During the 2020 pandemic, he seized the opportunity to study with world-renowned artist John Pugh in his studio in Truckee, California, at Lake Tahoe.

His work is well-known in Providence, where he has been affectionately referred to as “The Da Vinci of Providence.” Some of his notable projects include Los Andes, The George on Washington, Viva Mexico, Moonshine Alley, and Medici.

In addition to being an exquisite painter, Ian is also a skilled interior designer, photographer, woodworker, and graphic designer, and he can also make you a tasty dinner.