Artist Statement
Written during my studies at Goddard College, 2007-2010
My art is inspired by sounds, sights, images, and forms that speak to my aesthetic sense, stir my emotions and stimulate my imagination: the sound of the wind, the sparkling dance of light on an icicle, the chiaroscuro composition of afternoon shadows, the fleeting trace of a falling leaf, the echoes of music, the powerful surge of the ocean. These images abound everywhere in nature and fuel my creativity. They are my muses. These forms, rhythms, and patterns are emulated in human creations. My images are fundamentally about the evolution and repetition of natural elements in an historical context that bridges the past to the present, connects human endeavors with natural phenomena, and marks change in the passage of time.
The simple cave that was a modest home at the beginning of human existence appears today as contemporary architecture for our comfort and aesthetic well-being. The sound of a simple string has been transformed into an intricate symphony. The awkward steps of a toddler are perfected in the precise choreography of dance. The various languages of the world speak to the diversity and human connection among cultures. Even the vastness of the ether has been harnessed by the Internet, and the darkness of the unknown has been replaced with knowledge and a plethora of information in cyberspace. I believe that artistic works should reflect changes in the human condition while maintaining the connection to the emotional, spiritual, and aesthetic human elements that transcend time and space. In other words, they should be historically grounded and communicate a message or provide an understanding that is timeless.
My work juxtaposes actual and symbolic space as a means of maintaining balance. I strive to capture balance by interpreting and translating the world through a unique view incorporating organic and inorganic images. Each image, with its innate form, becomes an abstraction from the larger world, which informs it and connects us at a very basic level toward a transcendent human understanding. My works are informed by their context and placement in the material world but are not limited by the physical or historical.
There is a potential within works of art, and within various places where one can sense a type of vital energy, which is outside the material universe and so not limited by it. This sensed energy represents an inspirational, spiritual, or ethereal human connection and is contingent on a combination of factors. The energy levels that one senses represent a synergy that includes the contextual and the logical but moves beyond it, so that the result is an experience that is greater than the sum of the individual factors. This vital energy can also be sensed between the harmony and tension reflected in the coexistence of the natural and the manmade.
Some spaces, both natural and manmade, contain higher energy levels than others. I believe that the energy not only can be recreated and experienced through artwork, but that neglected and forgotten landscapes, cities, or structures can be revitalized through art and preserved for the enlightenment of future generations. It is this belief and with this goal in mind that I have focused some of my work on capturing historical architectural images.
My artwork takes the form of drawings, paintings, installations, and mixed media works. I create two and three-dimensional spaces where viewers can commune with their own thoughts and to hear the sounds of the various components of the world around us. Most of my architectural drawings and paintings depict historical dwellings. Time as well as space is an important element of my work. It is important for me as an artist to be able to extend time, for example, by capturing a fleeting image with a few quick strokes of a pencil from a moving car, but to also be aware of my limitations. I once built an all-natural willow hut structure with the full understanding that I was powerless against nature that would eventually destroy it. As artists and humans, we are governed by nature and mortality, yet we are driven by inspiration and immortality.
“Van Gogh, among others, believed in the religion of art, which, whatever else it involved, made it clear that art is more than the sum of its material characteristics and not simply a reflection of everyday life.” Donald Kuspit, an American art critic
During my international business studies and ongoing doctoral studies in global business, my vision of art has evolved into a continuous multimedia and interdisciplinary exploration of cultural differences, defining historical architectural elements and the coexistence of global cultural landscapes within their various elements of influence.
“The mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization." Frank Lloyd Wright, an American Architect
The short version of my Artist Vision in the Estonian language
Muusika helin, valguse kuma ning looduse avarus peegeldub minu kujutelmas. Tuule kõla, päikese kiire sähvatused jääpurikatel, hilisõhtune varjude looming, sügispuude langevad lehed ning võimas ookeani müha on ajendiks minu kunstile. Minu inspiratsioon saadab mind vanalinnade tänavatel ja looduse radadel. Uued vormid, rütmid ja kujundid on ühendatud erinevate kultuuride ning sümboolsete tähendustega. Minu kunst leiab ideesid aastasadu vanadest ehitistest, vanalinnade müüridest, klassikalisest muusikast, looduse vaatamisväärsustest ning pidevast aja muutustest.
Timeline of Portraits & Featured Projects
2014-2015 Capturing Cultures Project: Participated as a leading event committee member of an inaugural and the second Capturing Cultures Photography Contests celebrating International Education Week, Institute for Global Initiatives at Polk State College Art Galleries in Lake Wales and Lakeland, Florida:
City Art
Self-Portrait. Acrylic on Canvas, 2007 (Created during my Goddard College Painting Challenge: Create one self-portrait per day for three weeks)
2007 A Better Earth Essay: Goddard College Supplementary Scholarship Award. This essay pondered global issues of keeping air and water clean and suggested biofuels instead of petroleum-based fuels to prevent the world's oil wells from drying. Illustrated with mixed media collage, Mirage, 2007:
Nature Art
Family Roots: Parents - About Anne
|
