Artist Statement:

I was born in Middlesbrough and studied there and in Sheffield where I gained a first class (hons) degree in fine art (B.A.) before going on to Manchester and an M.A. During my student days I exhibited as a British Young Contemporary. Since then I have shown work in London, Brighton, Sheffield, Manchester, Middlesbrough, York and Newcastle.

I changed format as I matured and moved from painting realistically to painting purely imaginatively. I had to develop new skills and techniques to support this. I work directly on to board or canvas with no preliminary drawing and feels this makes the process exciting and energised. Not relying on models to work from I find both liberating and challenging.

My work is motivated by my views as a woman and a lesbian and I have concentrated on showing women as powerful beings . I use images from fairytale, history, mythology and religion with the objective of revealing women’s strength and sensitivity. I achieve my aims through reassessing the accepted image and remodelling it, the use of transparency, nakedness and pattern and the dissecting of the human face and form with line. . I’ve never painted for a wall or to create a pretty picture . I don’t paint to represent skin, metal . wood or any other material . I paint to express a feeling or an idea . Sometimes these are straight forward sometimes more technical but always I strive to bridge the gap between the subconscious and the real world. . I am influenced by Japanese, Egyptian and Tribal art. In particular through their use of line and archetypal patterns. My other influences range from Roman Catholicism, concentration camp victims, man’s inhumanity to woman, seaside comic postcards, patterned materials, to pantomimes, fetishes and family life

Ann Walshaw

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