about anne...

PLACE OF BIRTH Edinburgh, Scotland

QUALIFICATIONS

Tertiary 1991-1994 La Trobe University, Bendigo, Victoria
Master of Arts (Fine Arts) by Research
Thesis Title: Still Lives
1973-1977 Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, University of Dundee, Scotland, BA (Illustration and Printmaking)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Full time 2004-present Arts Academy, University of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia Undergraduate Course Coordinator, Visual Arts,
(Fine Arts and Graphic Design/Multimedia)
Studio Coordinator Drawing and Digital Art
Studio Coordinator Intermedia
1997-2004 School of Arts, University of Ballarat Senior Lecturer
Studio Coordinator Drawing, Studio Coordinator Multi-Discipline
1990-1997 School of Arts, University of Ballarat, Drawing Studio Coordinator
1983-1987 Peebles, Scotland, U.K. Fine Art Studio and Gallery Business Partner
1978-1981 Darling Downs CAE (University of Southern Queensland)
Lecturer: Design, Printmaking, Coordinator Foundation Studies
1977-1978 Darling Downs CAE (University of Southern Queensland)
Designer: External Studies Department and Media Services

EXHIBITIONS - Solo

2008 Paintings and Works on Paper, Greenwood Gallery, Melbourne
2007 Paintings and Works on Paper, Salt Contemporary Art, Queenscliff
Paintings and Works on Paper, Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh
2006 New Paintings, Salt Contemporary Art, Queenscliff
New Paintings, Harrison Galleries, Sydney
2005 Anne Saunders Recent Paintings, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2003 New Paintings, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2002 Auckland Connections, Depot Gallery, Sydney
Auckland Connections, Gallery 2021, Auckland NZ
2001 Recent Paintings, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
1999 Works on Paper, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
1997 Works on Paper, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Works on Paper, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat
1995 Works on Paper, Moorabbin Arts Centre, Melbourne
1994 Masters by Research Examination Exhibition, ‘Still Lives’,
Phyllis Palmer Gallery La Trobe University, Bendigo
1993 Recent Works, Foyer Gallery, University of Ballarat
1988 Paperworks, The Old Brewery ,Wagga Wagga
1987 Paperworks ,The Upstairs Gallery, Albury
1982 Paperworks ,The Old Brewery, Wagga Wagga
1981 Works on Paper, Editions Galleries, Melbourne
1980 Prints, The Printmakers Gallery and Workshop, Brisbane
1979 Prints from Australia, Compass Gallery, Glasgow
1978 Prints, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney

EXHIBITIONS - Group

2008 Gallery Artists, Salt Contemporary Art, Queenscliff, Victoria
2008 Gallery Artists, Greenwood Gallery, Melbourne
2007 3 Harbours Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland
Gallery Artists, Salt Contemporary Art, Queenscliff, Victoria
2006 Art Melbourne, Exhibition Building
Art Singapore, Suntec City
2005 Art Sydney 05, Bowen Hill Studios, Buninyong
Gallery Savah, Paddington, NSW
Group Exhibition, Salt Contemporary Art, Queenscliff
Art Singapore, East and West Gallery, Melbourne
Gallery Artists, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2004 Gallery Artists, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Melbourne Art Fair, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Art Sydney, Bowen Hill Studios, Buninyong
Guide Dogs, Australia, Queen Victoria Building, Sydney
Art Melbourne, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2003 Gallery Artists, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Art Sydney, Gallery 2021
2002 Gallery Artists, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Melbourne Art Fair, Flinders Lane Gallery
2001 Australian Abstractions Gallery 2021, Auckland, New Zealand
2000 Gallery Artists, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Works on Paper, Art Matrix Gallery, Brisbane
Melbourne Art Fair, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
1999 10th Anniversary, Gallery Artists, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
IBM Data Centre, Mount Helen, Victoria
1998 Sixth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne
1997 Amalgamate, Visual Arts Staff, University of Ballarat
1996 Staff Arts 96, Foyer Gallery, University of Ballarat
Paperworks, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Horsham Regional Art Gallery
1995 Art Now, Staff, School of Arts, University of Ballarat
1994 British International Miniature Print Exhibition, Off Centre Gallery, Bristol, U.K.
Works on Paper, Robin Gibson Gallery, Darlinghurst, NSW
1993 Diamond Valley Art Award Acquisitive Exhibition, Greensborough, Victoria
Small Works, Wide Vision, Downlands Art Prize Exhibition, Toowoomba, Qld
1992 Small Works, Wide Vision, Downlands Art Prize Exhibition, Toowoomba, Qld
1992 International Works on Paper Fair, Sydney
1989 18 Visual Artists, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery
1984 Queensland Artists, Brisbane Art Gallery
1983 Queensland Artists, Brisbane Art Gallery
1980 Queensland Artists, Brisbane Art Gallery
1979 Queensland Printmakers, The Printmakers Gallery and Workshop, Brisbane
1977 Scottish Travelling Print Open: London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen
1976 Compass Christmas Exhibition, Compass Gallery, Glasgow
1975 ‘Impress’, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland

SOLO EXHIBITION CATALOGUES

2008 Worn Ways: Heel to Heel and Toe to Toe, or Scuffing the Light Fantastic
(Essay by Dr Peter Hill)
2007 Lothian Stone: Connections between Scotland and Australia. (Essay by Sam Ainslie)
2006 The Work of Anne Saunders: Sense of Place. (Essay by Dr Peter Hill)
2005 Anne Saunders Paintings: Dedicated to Helen Hayes. (Essay by Doug Wright)
2003 Anne Saunders: New Paintings. (Essay by Sarah Schmidt)
2002 Paintings by Anne Saunders: Auckland Connections
2001 Australian Landscape Abstractions
2001 Anne Saunders: Meaning and Being in the Work of Anne Saunders
(Essay by Dr Peter Hill)
1999 Anne Saunders: Works on Paper. (Essay by Claire Baddeley)
1997 Anne Saunders: Works on Paper. (Essay by Sonia Heitlinger)

COLLECTIONS
Australia United Kingdom Singapore Thailand Nigeria Europe
University of Ballarat

PUBLICATIONS
2006 Anne Saunders, New Paintings, Harrison Galleries and Salt Contemporary Art
2006 Sited, Register of Senior University Women.
2005 Anne Saunders, New Paintings, Flinders Lane Gallery.
2003 Anne Saunders, New Paintings, Flinders Lane Gallery.
2003 Sited, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry.
2002 Anne Saunders, Auckland Connections, Gallery 2021.
2001 Anne Saunders, Recent Paintings, Flinders Lane Gallery.
2001 Anne Sounders, Bill Ferguson and Doug Wright,
Australian Landscape Abstractions, Gallery 2021, Auckland.
1999 Anne Saunders Works on Paper, Flinders Lane Gallery.
1994 Anne Saudners Masters by Research Thesis, ‘Still Lives’.
1992 Sited, Who’s who of Australian Visual Artists.
1992 Sited, Australian Directory of Academics.
1991 Prospect, University of Ballarat.
1991 Sited, Directory of Women Artists.
1990 Sited, Small works Wide Visions.
1990 Sited, Australian Directory of Academics.
1989 Sited, Artists and Galleries of Australia.
1989 Sited, Artists Data Bank.
1988 Sited, Australian Artists Producing Prints.
1984 Sited, Artists and Galleries of Australia.
1982 Sited, Directory of Australian Printmakers, Edited by Lilian Wood, Publisher Print Council of Australia.
Design, Beyond Midnight, ABC Radio Around Australia.
1979 Design, A Century of Homemaking: A History of the Darling downs, by Maurice French, Publisher DDIP.
1979 Nice to Hang on the Wall, Teaching Video programme for students studying media and creative arts
1978 Design, Land of the Leslies: Buildings of Early Settlers on the Darling Downs, by Mark Brelsford, Publisher DDIP.
1977 Cover Design, Enterprise in a Mixed Economy, by Jack McGill, Publisher Blackie.
1977 Cover Design, Investing in Scotland, by Jack McGill, Publisher Blackie.

Exhibition Catalogue essay by
Dr Peter Hill

Heel to Heel and Toe to Toe, or Scuffing the Light Fantastic.

I am standing with Anne Saunders in her impressive studio just outside Ballarat. She shares it with her partner Doug Wright, and her half of the large space is covered in black industrial rubber matting. She creates a lot of her work on the floor and uses a variety of liquids in the process. The studio adjoins the house and from the lounge there are good sight lines in to the working space.

We move back and forth between studio and house, discussing works in progress, viewing already framed works in different rooms, and other works pulled from large envelopes of protective plastic sheeting. I have been privileged to see Anne’s work develop over many years and am particularly excited by the recent developments which are now on show in this exhibition.

Her work in the past has often been multi-layered, rich in colour, and veering towards total abstraction while containing a very human warmth and sense of emotive depth. On top of this, and sometimes held like a fly caught in aspic, she has now introduced the image of the shoe and its significant other. These pairs of shoes leave a trace memory, like a footprint on a beach that thousands of years later re-emerges as a fossil. It is this sense of time and memory that permeates these new works and draws you back for more.

“I tend to work on two or three paintings at the same time,” she tells me. “But there are always seven or eight more that are being worked on in earlier stages.”

As the family sheep dog herds Anne’s two Burmese cats into another
room, we turn our attention to one new work in particular.

“In this one here we see the notion of the shoe as a container, and the shoe as a walking form, that makes a journey in time. The circles in the painting represent the sole of the shoe, and the scoring across the surface creates a sense of ‘worn-ness’ in the work. There is a whole process of mopping and scoring which I liken to adding and subtracting, and out of this journey, if you like, the final image emerges.”

The atmospherics – the sublime ‘weather’ – created by these paintings give the impression – to this viewer - of looking down from above. Sometimes it appears like viewing coral reef from the air, with sunlight dappling the surface and ribbons of a warm water current shifting beneath. At other times there is the complexity of vegetation that is never defined as such but nevertheless forms a rich, visual, eco-system. And then there are moves in to darkness, where tonal contrasts replace high-keyed colour, as if an eclipse of the sun has occurred unexpectedly and forms have to be sought out like the black cruciforms in an Ad Reinhardt painting.

Over the course of an hour or two we wander between house and studio, between study, bedroom, and kitchen, looking at work, talking about influences – African ballet, Van Morrison, Beethoven, Runrig, Peat Bog Faeries, and a range of artists from Joan Eardley and Antoni Tapies to Roger Kemp and Mark Rothko.

“A sense of wandering underpins the work,” Anne tells me. “The heavily abraded surfaces bear the evidence of deep scoring and scuffing – imprinting, but leaving only small traces behind.” I like the word ‘scuffing’, it seems to describe the movement of the foot and the toe so well, in a sort of carefree yet slightly violent way – just like the scuffing of the surface of a painting, using the hand and the wrist and that old friend ‘chance’.

Sonia Heitlinger once wrote that “Risks are taken in the process of artmaking. The memory of these risks remain in the works. Anne’s images have the capacity to be accepted on a number of levels and reflect ongoing struggle and optimism.”

Doug Wright, the person who knows her best, as an artist and a human being, and working only a few metres away, reports from the front line that “Anne becomes almost mesmerized by the act of painting, all else gets forgotten. However, she seems to trust the process saying ‘You have an idea and you keep going, keep working it through and you may think, I don’t know what I’m doing but I am going to do it anyway’”.

- Dr Peter Hill

Dr Peter Hill is Associate Professor and Head of Painting at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales. He exhibited in the 2002 Biennale of Sydney and his book Stargazing, memoirs of a young lighthouse keeper won a Saltire Award in 2004.