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 A n n  H o w e 

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Ann works in oil, encaustic (hot beeswax) and collage. Her work in oil focuses principally on landscapes, architecture, and still life. Growing up in rural Virginia she spent much of her free time outdoors and learned to know and love the natural world; this sense of place has stayed with her throughout her life and informs her work.  In landscapes she seeks to express the essence of places she has known and loved or places that she has visited and felt emotionally drawn to.

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Much of her work in encaustic also refers to landscapes of memory or imagination as she tries to convey some sense of the mystery that resides in the natural world. The fluidity of the hot wax makes this work freer and less controlled than her work in oil. Some of her work in encaustic is nonrepresentational, leaving the viewer free to attach his or her own meaning or emotional response to a piece.

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In her still life paintings she uses objects of everyday life that have meaning for her, particularly pieces of North Carolina pottery or household things that are part of her life. This work expresses her appreciation for the enrichment that anything well designed and well crafted adds to our daily lives.

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 In addition to work in oil and encaustic she has also created collages as a specific response to – and reminder of – the beauty and variety of the North Carolina landscape. For these collages she uses watercolor and washi, Japanese handmade paper that provides texture as well as subtle color and pattern. In all of her work she responds to the different possibilities offered by the several media that she uses.

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She has completed credit and non-credit classes at SUNY- Potsdam, the Smithsonian Institute, the Durham Arts Council,  ArtSpace, and Penland School of Crafts as well as workshops and classes held by many local artists.  Her work has been shown in juried shows of the Fine Arts League of Raleigh, Visual Art Exchange, Durham Arts Council and the Fine Arts League of Cary and is in private collections in North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, and New York.

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