ARTIST STATEMENT

Moving from the East Coast in the mid-nineties – and leaving behind the big city art museums I grew up in – changed my world. My inspirations now come from exploring the rivers, lakes, and trails of Central Oregon and appreciating beauty in the everyday. I’m not as interested in realistic representation of landscape as in trying to evoke feelings: the heat of the sun, the clarity of the light, or the riot of color. We are poised between loving this landscape to death with overuse and pillaging its resources without any regard for its intrinsic worth. I try to produce work that encourages folks to recognize, value, and protect what we still have.

In my recent work I have been exploring the forces of rocks and water that shape our environment. These intrinsically unique materials share many similar patterns, movement, marks, textures, and colors, making the process of differentiating them in two dimensions endlessly absorbing. 

With a BA in art history (and all the studio art courses I could manage in my schedule) from Tufts University, I have studied drawing, painting, typography, and printmaking at SVA, RISD, Bend Art Center, and COCC. My paintings have appeared in several group shows in Bend and Portland, and on the Oregon coast, and my first solo exhibitions were hung during the summer and fall of 2019. Public, corporate, and private collections across the country have acquired my work. I am represented at two central Oregon artist collectives: Tumalo Art Co. in the Old Mill District, Bend, and Hood Avenue Art in Sisters.

EXHIBITIONS

Featured Artist September 22 – October 25, 2023, Hood Avenue Art
Anne’s motifs often encompass water and the rocks it flows over, or has carved over eons. Many of her recent paintings depict memorable and iconic trees. She hopes her paintings will remind you to treasure and protect the places we have left.

Fractures and Interludes July 2023, Tumalo Art Co. (featured artist)
Each moment represents an interlude of a sort, that now between the past and the future. Each fracture might reveal a hidden gem.

Topophilia : Into the Canyons October 2022, Tumalo Art Co. (featured artist)
Though rendered in a representational way, these canyon paintings are a retrospective of my internal journey during the pandemic years when life changed dramatically all over the world.

For the Seventh Generation July 2022 and 2021 at Lincoln City Cultural Center and October 1 – December 20, 2020, Elisabeth Jones Art Center, 516 NW 14th Avenue, Portland, OR
This exhibition invites artists to submit work representing a favored section of the Pacific Coast in an effort to engage the public in protecting and preserving their treasured coastline.

Up the Falling Water – or, Where the Rocks Flow and the Waters Dance September 2021, Tumalo Art Company, Bend (featured artist)
Find a quiet trail that follows a creek up a steep or gentle grade, through a rocky canyon or a lush forest. The cascades might be tumultuous and heart-pounding, or gentle and mesmerizing. Always beckoning, these places become a refuge, inviting contemplation and sparking inspiration.

Art in the Atrium Honoring Billye Turner December 2020 – February 2021, Art in the Atrium, Franklin Crossing, Bend
Group exhibition celebrating her 40-year career.

Pence Gallery September 2020, Central Oregon Community College. First place award in painting for the piece: Sentinels: After the Burn

 Giving Back: Recent Paintings by Anne Gibson December 15, 2019 – January 11, 2020, First Cup Coffeehouse, 4103 SE Woodstock Blvd., Portland, OR

 Reflections on the Trail September 4–30, 2019, Art in the Atrium, Franklin Crossing, Bend

Wandering the Deschutes: Recent Paintings by Anne Gibson June 2 – July 27, 2019 Oxford Hotel, Bend

2019 Student Exhibition May 2019, Honorable Mention, Barber Library Rotunda Gallery, COCC. Juried

Painting and Ceramics Student Exhibition February 2019 Pence Gallery, COCC

All About Trees December 2, 2018 – February 3, 2019 Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Oregon, Bend. Juried

Twenty Dollar Art Show 2018, 2019, 2021 Bright Place Gallery and High Desert Museum Bend.

Mt. Bachelorisms February 5–28, 2016 Atelier 6000 (later the Bend Art Center), Bend. Juried

GRAPHIC DESIGN

I began my career at the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts and was rapidly promoted to director of publications and marketing. For seven years, I wrote, edited, and produced event calendars, membership and development appeals, course catalogs, invitations, and exhibition brochures and catalogs. As senior designer at Gilbert Associates in Providence, RI, from the late 80s to mid-90s, I designed college and university admissions materials, museum and gallery exhibition catalogs, brochures, posters and invitations, as well as work for a variety of more commercial clients such as a local bank, hospital, vineyard, shops and restaurants.

Freelancing in Bend, Oregon, since the mid-90s, I have teamed with various creative partners, agencies, and web developers to tell our clients’ stories around Central Oregon and beyond. Currently I am focusing my design work towards supporting arts, cultural, environmental, and non-profit clients. I spend as much time as possible in the studio painting the places and people I love and also devote considerable hours to the non-profit I helped found, which supports kids and teens with type 1 diabetes through t1dbuddycamp.org