ANN FARLEY

Ann makes art as inherently as breathing; it flows through her fingers and out into the world on paper, in clay, even cement. Her first paintings were done as a child in one of the out islands of the Bahamas where she painted the Bahamian ladies in oil. Her sculptures were first made even earlier made from iron rich ditch clay from her family’s farm in Sussex, she fired them in a dustbin full of sawdust and still has them to this day. Her work is a continuous series, a flow that mirrors the strong sculptural lines, which characterise her work. At times spare and bold her work strips away the superfluous noise in her world and becomes one with her subconscious creating profound pieces which elevate us into a spiritual place. Her work often has classical mythology and biblical references. She is inspired by many artists including; Matisse, Picasso, and Vanessa Bell.

Her work is always made in response to an event, a happening, a moment in her life, whether it be internal, external, place related, or about something she has read or seen. Like a visual journal, she works either directly from life or from her imagination and often one becomes the other.

“I always take a sketchbook and wherever I am I just start drawing and see where I get to… These days I often use chalk pastels to start the process, I tend to use either white or any colour that I most feel like using which can often have little to do with what’s in front of me. Then I tend to rub everything out with a cloth and see what I have and then work back in with paint or pastel or line or an eraser.
My work has changed from a more planned approach (drawings were always spontaneous) to an across the board spontaneity even when I am working with concrete.
My work a strong thread that has run through my 58 years, it has comforted me and kept me company and through it I have endeavored to make sense of things as I journey along.”

Ann’s work is sought after and collected internationally, she has exhibited widely and won several award and prizes including the Dorothy Fielding Prize for Anatomy, the Edward Fawcett memorial prize for Anatomy, a Distinction in Anatomy at 2nd MB CHB and the Anatomy Illustration Prize.