The compelling art of Anna Jewel Gove
I am a storyteller. I use representational images (animals, plants, people to tell the story. Like a movie: it is the feeling you take away with you.
Recent art:
Artist statement 2023
Where do my ideas come from? My subject matter is taken from my personal experiences as well as the environment around me. Recent travel, dog walks, grocery shopping, rest stops on the turnpike, disability, social issues and shared experiences are some examples. 5/11/18 was my personal 9/11. A moment in time can draw a line between the before and the after. I’m drawn to scenes that have a story. I keep a sketchbook at my side and a notebook with me always. Thoughts are numerous and fleeting, vanishing with the next thought that comes to mind. I attempt to capture them: taking a note, making a sketch, getting a picture.
Design elements, i.e. the composition, the interplay of light and shadow catch my eye and seem to illustrate the abstract words in my mind. Travel is part of my life. Several times a year I go to a place I have never been. Travel gives a fresh perspective to see ordinary events in a new light. .
Why are all my shoes are black?
When I went to visit my 88-year old uncle down in Florida, he asked me, “which do you prefer, function or aesthetics?” I said, “aesthetics, of course.” He told me that he himself, too, prefers aesthetics, as he continued working on a small canvas set upon a table in the living room, dipping his brushes in and out of the cans of latex paint. I marveled at the beautiful, solid wood floors gleaming my reflection back to me. He said his housekeeper, Julie, gets very upset with him as she has the task of cleaning the spilled paint up off of the floor.
