about anne

Anne Saunders was born in Edinburgh in 1955. Between 1972 and 1977 she studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, specializing in Illustration and Printmaking resulting in a Bachelor of Arts. 

Anne emigrated to Australia in 1977 where she commenced her lecturing career at University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba. From there Anne moved to lecture at Charles Sturt University before moving back to Scotland for 4 years to establish a small gallery outside Edinburgh. Anne returned to Ballarat in 1987 building her academic career over the next 22 years where she was promoted to Senior Lecturer and Undergraduate Visual Arts Course Coordinator.

Anne is now a full-time artist, having retired from her position at University of Ballarat in 2010.

Since leaving Art School Anne has had over 20 solo exhibitions with 10 of those accompanied by exhibition publications. She has contributed to over 50 group exhibitions and been a finalist in juried exhibitions many time throughout her professional career. These exhibitions have taken place in exhibitions in Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and the U.K.

In more recent years Anne has spent time back in her homeland as artist in residence at WASPS Patriothall artist studios in Edinburgh. She will be travelling back to Scotland in 2011 to WASPS  ‘The Steeple’ artist studios in Newburgh, Scotland.

Her painting over the last decade has positioned itself firmly in the question of place, and journeys between distant places.

The study of birthplace and its sub-conscious underpinning of visual vocabulary continues to intrigue her and inform her practice.

As a Scot, having lived more than half her life in Australia, she now makes work in both countries in order to develop her studio practice. 

Her  work makes reference to the unquestionable presence we make wherever we are. The metaphorical reference to the footprint continues to intrigue her and it’s association with/to place, memory, moments  and people. 

The ‘here and there’ often described by the footprints and other shapes, random marks, are mixed with abraded surfaces suggesting rambling, dreamlike connections with these two lands.

The subtle fading and broken lines/marks often suggesting the tenuous hold we have on the planet and the fragility of situations that come with it.

The methodology combines a painterly and mark-making configuration, with a firm commitment to abstraction on either canvas, paper, paper on board, creating colour interplays that describe special relationships. Colour backgrounds suggest the enormity of distance and space that separates yet connects people and place.