Bryon Gardner, Northwest painter and printmaker renowned for his landscapes of New Mexico and the high desert, was one of Oregon's leading abstract expressionists of the 20th century. He was born in Portland, Oregon in 1930 and studied painting with Louis Bunce at the Museum Art School (now PNCA) from 1948 to 1952. Gardner later traveled to New York for artistic education at the Brooklyn Art Museum were he became influenced by the dynamic abstract expressionist movement and returned to become a major part of the modern art movement in Oregon. He exhibited extensively, including one man shows at the Portland Art Museum, Marylhurst College, Reed College, Corvallis Art Center in Oregon, and numerous venues in Washington, California and Arizona. He was invited to show one of his major paintings at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962.

Gardner's style is often identified with the New York School and sometimes with fellow northwest modern artist Mark Tobey. Gardner was a Portland State University faculty member since 1966 and also one of the founding artists and supporters of the Portland Art Museum's Rental Sales Gallery. He died in 1992 and was honored with another one man show there in 1997.