August Artist of the Month
Meet Annie Newman
Annie Newman was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She attributes her developing love of art to the vibrant city and vivid visual landscapes that surrounded her. Many of her friends growing up had parents who were artists or art dealers. She attended Northwestern University where she studied Art History but never did much fine art at that time herself. She went to graduate school for architecture and has enjoyed a successful twenty-year career in the field. As she puts it, she “always sat on the sidelines” of the art world.
Newman married and had two children a little bit later in life. She took a step down from her busy career and did consulting. This is when her artistic journey began. Newman took classes at the Danforth Museum, Mass College of Art and Design, the New Art Center and Concord Art. She landed on portraiture and reflects, “I wanted to tackle the hardest thing, to prove that I had the chops, before I felt entitled to pursue less realistic work.” She is drawn to more abstract work, but couldn’t quite figure out how to launch it. So, in 2019 she began with portraits of the “usual suspects and heroes in her life,” her husband, daughters and other family members and friends, and then moved on to public figures who inspired her. She took a “feminist journey reflecting the era (she) grew up in-the Seventies;” she painted bold modern portraits of Billie Jean King, Gloria Steinem, Simone de Beauvoir, Annie Liebovitz and others. She enjoyed choosing colorful patterned flat graphic backgrounds for her subjects which are quite compelling.
More recently, Newman has started her “Companion Series,” diptych paintings where one side is a portrait and the other side reduces the portrait to an abstract of shapes and colors. She continues to explore, working on finding her voice and her style now. She is also keeping busy with many community projects. During Covid, Newman co-founded Art Wellesley to grow and sustain the creative community in Wellesley. She has also been active with Art in the Park in Wellesley, the Public Art Committee of Wellesley, the WSA, Wellesley Women Artisans, Wellesley Parents Supporting Art Students, and is a Board Member of the New Art Center in Newton.
Newman credits many teachers for influencing her style and growth. Catherine Kehoe forced her to paint from life and to paint only light and shadows. Leslie Graff and Zhanna Cantor have also impacted her use of color and patterns. Her work has been shown in WSA shows, in solo shows at the Wellesley Free Library and at the Fountain Street Annex in Boston. She won Third Place for RIP Justice Ginsberg in the 2020 WSA Annual Library Show. This portrait, as her others, shows her strong use of abstract elements to take the painting “beyond representation.” The rest of her iconic RBG series can be found on her website in addition to her entire collection of heroes. Follow Annie on IG @annie_newman_art.