Gladys Msele was born on May 20, 1966, at Emadolobheni, in KwaZulu-Natal.

She did her education at Sizathina High School, where she got her standard nine, and left at the end of 1983. Gladys is single, and has four children.

She heard about Ardmore through Beatrice Nyembe and asked Fée Halsted to teach her to be a painter.

Gladys started with Ardmore in 1993 and has been part of the studio ever since, moving from the Drakensberg studio to Caversham in 2009.

At the ‘Berg studio she painted alongside Mavis Shabalala, Thembi Zikala and Ottilia Nxumalo. Since 2009, she has worked alongside Rosemary Mazibuko and Matrina Xaba.

Gladys’s painting is bold, direct, bright and beautifully executed and composed. Her works have a great appeal to collectors and she prefers to work on a white background which brings out the clarity of her designs.

In 2014 her blue Tanzanite series of animals winged their way to Miami for Pascoe & Co.’s WMODA show in Florida