"Art lives not in the ambit of survival but in the realm of possibility."

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"I don't know what art is.  It has been my experience that art is created in the aftermath of an exploration, working in a domain to which my reaction is: "I don't know what I am doing or what the next action is," and/or "I don't know how this will be completed."  The value of art work is not in the generation of a result that some viewers may consider art, but in the experience, self-expression, and expansion provided by the exposure to and interaction with not knowing.  The actual object or experience that is produced is an annotation of the investigation.  Art lives not in the ambit of survival but in the realm of possibility."

Ann's relationship with art shifted from observer to creator in the second half of her life (following her 1995 retirement as a staff assistant and her childrens' commencement of elementary school).  With no professional intention, she followed the art curriculum at Foothill Community College (Los Altos, California) and studied with Halcyon Teed at the Pacific Art League (Palo Alto, California).  In September 2005, deciding to complete her Bachelor of Arts degree (begun in 1968), Ann registered at San Jose State University (San Jose, California) as a Pictorial Arts Major.  She was accepted into San Jose State University's Bachelor of Fine Arts Pictorial Arts Program October 30, 2009.  Her pastel painting, Breaking Possibility, the first piece she had ever offered for sale, was exhibited and purchased at the March 2011 Benefit Art Auction for Works/San Jose.  In December 2011, she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Pictorial Arts and, in May 2015, with a Master of Fine Arts from San Jose State University.

With regard to her commitment to being an artist, she quotes Dr. Martin Luther King, "Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase." 

For more information about Ann or any of her works, please click here.