A New Orleans Louisiana native, Gerard Caliste decided early that he wanted to be an artist. His chance to make that dream a reality presented itself in high school as he became part of a youth art organization called Young Aspirations Young Artist YA/YA. The organization profoundly changed his life by giving him the support to develop his artistic skills and creative direction. In his active years as a YA/YA artist he had the opportunity to become a working artist at the age of fifteen.

In December of 1994, Gerard’s design was chosen as one of seven international artists commissioned to create art that was turn into a woven fabric by Blumenthal.The fabric was turned into seat covers would cover The United Nations Delegates seats of the UN general assembly room for the first time in honor of the United Nations 50th anniversary. In the fall of 1997, he enrolled in the Savannah College of Art and Design after being awarded a presidential scholarship. During his studies at SCAD, he was able to further the direction of his artistic approach and the depth an emerging expressionistic style. While most of his YA/YA created artwork were of YA/ YA’s signature artistically painted three-dimensional furniture pieces. (Chairs and Coffee tables)
College gave him the opportunity to explore more traditional aspects of art production as well as art history. In 2002 he obtained his BFA, and he moved to Houston Texas.

In the fall of 2004, he became a certified in art (early childhood -12th grade) and started teaching at the Houston Independent School District as a middle school fine arts teacher where he is currently in his 19th year. Teaching in a culturally diverse city gave him another source of inspiration, seeing how his student’s art reflected who they are from a cultural perspective. His teaching experience gave him a refreshed appreciation of his own work regarding application of media and the constant figurative and narrative nature of his subject matter. Gerard’s work continued to explore a narrative theme in his creation of Painting, Drawing, Sculptures, Mural and Creative writing. His inspiration can come from many sources. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina ripped through his hometown of New Orleans and the entire gulf coast. The effect that the storm had on the city of New Orleans pushed him to use that raw emotions to his create art in order to heal. During that period, he produced an extensive body of work starting with his debut series Waterlines which was followed by an installation Walking on Water 2009. Through the years he produced art for companies such as MTV, Swatch Watch, United Nations and The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and many more series. His latest concept “Here comes the sun and sun and sun…” is a multidisciplinary series of work that features visual and audio arts.