Anne Munson holds a BS in Art Education from University of Oregon. Her painting process is three parts, all fun. First she carves stamps, cut up rubber combs and finally mixes paint. Then she makes her own papers. She says that her process is pretty much of finger painting for grownups. Next she draws, tears paper and glues shapes onto canvas. At this stage, the art looks like a quilt. Finally she uses transparent acrylics to add light, form, air, and dimension. She’s drawn to interesting textures and a push pull of flat shapes vs. atmosphere and subtle color. The mantra posted in her studio is “Visual complexity; compositional clarity.” At age 64, Anne has come to the conclusion that a comfortable state for her must be confusion.
Things really interest her. And she struggles to understand. Eventually she conquers with a professor who once said to her that if at some point in any painting the artist doesn’t don’t hate it then the artist hasn’t challenged himself/herself enough. But this isn’t much of a problem for her. She’s always made art of some kind. Anne taught art partly because she couldn’t decide on just one medium. And she likes kids. She made stained glass panels and objects. She also made colored pencil drawings that were published. And when she got impressed by her own work, she started a gift business. Her art is found in many galleries around the world. Anne has two sons and two grandchildren. She thinks she’s a crazy grandma. To her, everyday is a happy funny new challenge, even when it’s not.
