Artist of the Month November 2016

Anne Scheer

Kittery Point, Maine

Artist's Statement: My studio is within one hundred yards of the Atlantic ocean. Walking the Maine shore, it is difficult not to see close up the complexity and turbulence in the intertidal zone, the area between the low and high tide marks. Requiring flexibility, adaptation and luck, lifeforms here, deal with sweeping wave action, and desiccating low tides in the space of hours.   Maine’s relatively larger intertidal zone is a microcosm, a metaphor for the earth’s startling climatic change happening in our lifetime.

Trained in representational oil technique, I migrated to acrylics for their spontaneity and ability to carry pigment in water on an absorptive paper substrate. A degree of gestural abstraction seems to visually amplify this action best. The flowing curves of a colorful zone washed by water and organic sea life adaptations (such as bladderworts) begin to reveal a shorthand typography of mark making. Water-based gelatin acrylic monoprint often forms the initial gesture which is the foundation for the paintings.
An abstract nearscape, of closely observed environmental change is my intention.

How and when did you start creating art?

I drew from the time I could hold a crayon. Then had a print accepted to a state wide school contest,
 and eventually majored in Art at the University of Wisconsin.

What media and genres do you work in?

I love painting in oil but lately I’ve been using acrylics because of their water solubility and a monotype process. I began my art career with classic realism and have moved through impressionism to a semi-abstraction. 

Who or what are your influences?

Contemporary artists like Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Diebenkorn, Anselm Kieffer but also Georgia O’Keefe, 
Edouard Vuillard, Matisse, and Van Gogh’s color and energy and Scientist/authors like E.O. Wilson. I am currently reading A Sea of 
Glass by Drew Harvell which explores models of undersea creatures that may or may not exist now. Glass models were made from blown glass 150 
years ago.

What was your inspiration for Sunapee surrogate?

The  Sunapee trout decoy is an example of a fish that can no longer live in 
the water of it’s native mountain lake because of global warming. I 
liked the message of using the carved wooden decoy as a sad substitute 
for the real fish.

Describe your creative process?

I use acrylic paint thinned with a 
silkscreen medium on a gel plate with hand cut stencils and thin natural
 objects to make a monoprint on very thick porous paper. Most of my 
recent subject matter is about water, salt and fresh and the ways it 
erodes it’s environment. I usually live with the print for a while until
 I’m inspired to add a drawn or painted realistic element to the 
composition. Sometimes, I may add a digital print transferred from 
butcher paper. I like the idea that the augmented part may read as if it
 is on a different plane. This is mounted on a cradled panel and then I 
finish with a matte wax varnish like Dorman’s.

What are you working on currently?

In September, I spend a residency on a Maine lake literally swimming and 
printing monoprints every day. My pieces from that time have this half 
in the water feel and are more fresh water oriented. I’m continuing to 
add finishes to these pieces.

What are your near/long term goals as an artist?

I’d  like to study other bodies of water and water in all it’s physical 
states in other areas of the world. My work continues to evolve as I 
learn more about water environments.

Where can people view/purchase your work (gallery, website, etc)?

I’m  having a show at the Kennedy Gallery in Portsmouth NH in May 2017. My 
website is www.annescheerstudio.com.  Early works and prints can be ordered from https://www.saatchiart.com/AScheer