Ann-Marie Brown
an interview with
Ann-Marie Brown
(a photo by Krista Ockenden)
We would start with our usual ice-breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art?
that I paint. I’m painting people with the idea that they are more than the sum of their parts. b. Technical training is a great thing, there is a craft element to art making, and you need to know how to use the tools and materials. Developing an awareness of the history of art is also useful... Contemporary art is a conversation, and you want to understand the context that you’re working in.
I would define a work of art as something that functions as a bridge between the artist and the viewer. We would like to ask you something about your background: we have read that you have studied Cultural Studies at Trent's University and Religious Disciplines in Europe. Do you think that this trans-national experience has informed the way you make Art nowadays? And how much in your opinion training influences art? We were wondering if in your opinion a certain kind of training could even stifle one's creativity...
c. Regarding certain kinds of training being stifling...once the student has a grasp of the materials and a sense of what’s gone before them, they need to summon the courage to make the art they want to make. That part is up to them. How has your art developed since you left school? Can you tell us your biggest influences in art and how they have affected your work?
a. What artists are drawn to, what we spend time studying can’t help but inform our practice. In Europe I was operating from a place of faith in the idea of God dwelling in us, of our physical bodies as vessels for the divine. That idea has shifted and expanded for me, but the influence is there in the figures
Since leaving school I’ve been looking at paintings, seeing what works, trying to figure out why. The painters who’ve had a huge 86