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Gary studied communications at the University of Washington and Washington State University, graduating with honors in 1969. Lieutenant Gary became an educational TV director with ROTC division of the US Army and served with the combat photography unit, the Southeast Asia Pictorial Center
A visitor to Puerto Vallarta since 1974 and a resident since 1979.Gary Thompson definitely qualifies as a “pata salada” (salty paw). He runs the city’s second oldest art gallery, Galeria Pacifico, now in its 21st season. Before that, he was partner and co-director of the oldest, Jan Lavender's Galeria Uno, for five years starting in late 1979. Galeria Pacifico has had three locations since its inception, but has been comfortably settled at Aldama 174 for 10 years.
In the mid-90s, Gary pioneered "Artists’ Studio Tours" which included as many as five mini-vans transporting guests to artists´ studios as far a field as Sayulita. In 2000, this evolved into a more manageable walking tour of artists’ studios in Old Town north of the Rio Cuale and eventually today into the Public Sculpture Walking Tour. The Puerto Vallarta Convention and Visitors Bureau, in addition to the Marriott, Buenaventura Premier and Sheraton hotels, include Gary’s tours to welcome journalists and guests from around the globe, promoting Puerto Vallarta’s burgeoning art scene
The tours start at the Los Milenios statue on the Malecon, at the foot of 31 de Octubre Street next to the Hotel Rosita, every Tuesday morning at 9:30 from mid-November to mid-April. The tour is free, but all donations go to the Biblioteca Los Mangos Municipal public library, for children’s art education and to support new sculptures and the restoration and care of existing public art installations. It was Gary Thompson who led the way and raised funds for the sculpture of a boy with a book by Ramiz Barquet that is at the Francisco Villa entrance to Los Mangos Library, called "Un Nino, Un Libro, Un Futuro". Thompson has also donated extensively to the library himself and serves as co-auctioneer of its annual art auction fund raiser.
Gary has also written widely about the Vallarta art scene, local artists and Mexican art history with comments by Thompson—in publications such as Sunset Magazine, Alaska Airlines’ in-flight magazine, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today and many others. He began to spend summers in San Miguel de Allende some years ago and has created an exciting and active exchange of artists and their works between that city and Puerto Vallarta to the benefit of both cities.
By Barbara Sands
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