Gina Sawin received her BFA and MFA degrees in New York at Parsons School of Design, where she studied with Leland Bell, Paul Resika, and John Heliker, as well as distinguished visiting artists such as Robert DeNiro, Sr. and Larry Rivers. The influence of these painters, who uphold a tradition of painterly representation based on modernist principles, is evident in Sawin's series of animal pictures. The apparent simplicity of the compositions relies on abstract structures, while the overall brushwork weaves the animals into their surroundings, creating a cohesive whole.

Sawin paints in a studio on her family farm in Maine. Her work has been exhibited in, among other places, New York City, Washington, D.C., Sun Valley, Jackson Hole, and several Maine galleries. A partial list of exhibitions follows.

Currently represented by Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, Maine