Ann Munson

Ann has come to the conclusion at age 65 that a comfortable state for her must be confusion.  Things interest her.  And she struggles to understand.  Eventually she conquers. A professor of her’s once said  “if at some point in any painting you don’t hate it, you haven’t challenged yourself enough.”  Ann believes this is not a problem for her.  She has always made art of some kind.  She taught art partly because she couldn’t decide on just one medium.  And she likes kids.  She made stained glass objects and panels and colored pencil drawings that were published and started a gift business.  Because those things were hard. She built a greenhouse and took horticulture.  Ann, who considers herself, Ms. Not Science.  She has two sons and two grandkids.  She thinks she’s the crazy grandma.  To Ann, everyday is a happy funny new challenge.  Even when it’s not.

Her work is three parts, all fun.  First she carves stamps, cuts up rubber combs and mixes paint.  Then she makes my own papers.  It’s pretty much finger painting for grownups. She covers the entire floor of the greenhouse with colored patterned sheets.  Next she draws, tears paper and glues shapes onto canvas.  It looks like a quilt at this stage.  Finally she uses transparent acrylics to add dimension, light ,form, and air.  She’s drawn to a push pull of flat shapes and interesting textures vs. subtle color and atmosphere.  The mantra posted in her studio is “Visual complexity; compositional clarity.”  Huh.  Complexity and clarity.  “How did you say this damn thing works?”