Anne Appleby

Education and background

Anne Appleby was born in 1954 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1977 from the University of Montana and her Master of Fine Arts in 1989 from the San Francisco Art Institute. Before attending the Art Institute, Appleby spent a fifteen-year apprenticeship with an Ojibwe Indian elder in Montana. From him, she learned her patient observation of nature. Appleby lives in Jefferson City, Montana.

Career

Appleby's works were described by the ArtZone 461 Gallery as "simple arrangements of colored canvas panels", with titles that take inspiration from "the natural world". Although panels may initially appear monochromatic, they are actually "deep and luminous gradations of hue." Appleby's work is often shown with that of "reductive" painters, but it does not exactly fit into the "pure" painting philosophy held by many of them. In 2004, Kenneth Baker wrote that, "using no forms except monochrome panels, Appleby must struggle often with the potential problem of repetition. But [she] achieves a freshness and distinctness that persuade a viewer that she means each one. It is as if she has learned to translate energy of intent directly into radiance of color."

Exhibitions and awards

She has participated in group exhibitions in institutions such as the Tacoma Art Museum in Washington, the American Academy in Rome, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where in 1996 she was awarded the SFMoMA SECA Art Award. She was also the 1999 recipient of the Biennial Award from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation in New York. Appleby shows her paintings primarily at San Francisco’s Anglim Gilbert Gallery.

Solo exhibitions

Anne Appleby has had various solo exhibitions.

Selected collections

Appleby's works are held in various museum collections.