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Anne Garvey is a contemporary visual artist based in Oakland, California. A graduate from the San Francisco Art Institute and Saint Mary’s College, she has exhibited, taught, and collaborated with fellow artists at home and abroad. Garvey works in a variety of media, but is primarily known for her realistic paintings of people and tangled objects. Her art centers around the inner human experience of a variety of mental states. Tangled elements, such as cords, yarn, and chains, serve as metaphors for different states of mind, and invite the viewer to contemplate our common struggles. Her current body of work explores anxiety, trauma, and resilience through large-scale drawings, paintings, and sculptural installation. Garvey’s work has been published in Memoir Magazine, TWIRL: a Decade of Artist Interviews, and the Racket Journal. She has participated as an artist-in-residence at Midway Gallery in San Francisco, the North Street Collective in Willits, CA, the Hoi An Recreation Center in Vietnam, Saint Vincent de Paul, and various educational programs throughout the bay area. Her work has been exhibited widely in venues and galleries including L.A. Artcore and Castelli Artspace in Los Angeles, Axis Gallery in Sacramento, and Adobe Books in San Francisco.
Published on March 3rd, 2024. Artist responses collected in months previous.
What are you working on these days?
Right now I’m continuing to evolve a body of work that I began last Spring. At that time I was an artist-in-residence at Midway Gallery in San Francisco, and preparing for an exhibit in their space. I had never had the opportunity to show in such a large space, and the tall ceilings allowed me to create large-scale works on paper as well as hanging sculptures. I began using my mixed-media sculptures as sources for paintings, and I am continuing that series, now on wood panels. Currently, I am preparing for a solo show at Manna Gallery in Oakland in January 2024, which will consist mostly of paintings.
What has been going well for you in your art career and life recently?
I've been really fortunate to have had two projects/exhibitions to prepare for this past year. This has slowed the pace for me in a good way, since I've focused on mainly one holistic body of work as opposed to individual pieces or series. Even though I still struggle with having enough time in the studio, it has gotten better and I have been more productive than ever. In part this was due to the fact that I took a hard look at my teaching career vs. my studio practice and reassessed my priorities. I cut back my job hours in the Fall and have a plan going forward to increase my energies in the studio over time. It's still challenging, but it's paying off and I feel good about my choices.
What is something new that you have discovered this past year that is meaningful or helpful for you?
Even though I cut back at my job, I have stepped into more opportunities to engage with fellow colleagues and community partners in art education. This has enabled me to see the vast level of support that's out there and how it's totally intertwined with the art community in general. I've even crept out of my comfort zone and into leadership roles that I never envisioned myself doing. I'm realizing that there is room in my art practice for more collaboration, more openness, and more connections. At the same time I'm starting to happily reject my former, outdated notions of what an art career has to look like to be "valid". There are as many ways to be an artist as there are artists out there, and that's a message I want to pass on to the young people I work with.
Briefly walk us through your process of making art or thinking through a new project, focusing on what's most important to you as you create.
Lately I've started to approach my art-making from a big-picture standpoint, whereas before I would have started with an idea for a single painting. I think about what the entire project will look like, what experience the viewer may have walking into the space. In this way, even if I have a standard exhibit of paintings, I think of it as if it was an installation. It's becoming very important to me to connect with others on an authentic, human level through the work. As I move forward with various experimentations with materials, metaphors, etc. I try to consistently come back to what the vision is really about at its core.
Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers?
I really want to appreciate Ingrid and this project. I took a moment to go back ad read through the other artists' responses as well as my own over the years. I can't believe this is the 5th year, and half-way point of the interviews! It is so important that creative people are able to express themselves and have platforms on which to do so, and Ingrid has created a beautiful method of capturing artists' voices.
What are you working on these days?
Right now I’m continuing to evolve a body of work that I began last Spring. At that time I was an artist-in-residence at Midway Gallery in San Francisco, and preparing for an exhibit in their space. I had never had the opportunity to show in such a large space, and the tall ceilings allowed me to create large-scale works on paper as well as hanging sculptures. I began using my mixed-media sculptures as sources for paintings, and I am continuing that series, now on wood panels. Currently, I am preparing for a solo show at Manna Gallery in Oakland in January 2024, which will consist mostly of paintings.
What has been going well for you in your art career and life recently?
I've been really fortunate to have had two projects/exhibitions to prepare for this past year. This has slowed the pace for me in a good way, since I've focused on mainly one holistic body of work as opposed to individual pieces or series. Even though I still struggle with having enough time in the studio, it has gotten better and I have been more productive than ever. In part this was due to the fact that I took a hard look at my teaching career vs. my studio practice and reassessed my priorities. I cut back my job hours in the Fall and have a plan going forward to increase my energies in the studio over time. It's still challenging, but it's paying off and I feel good about my choices.
What is something new that you have discovered this past year that is meaningful or helpful for you?
Even though I cut back at my job, I have stepped into more opportunities to engage with fellow colleagues and community partners in art education. This has enabled me to see the vast level of support that's out there and how it's totally intertwined with the art community in general. I've even crept out of my comfort zone and into leadership roles that I never envisioned myself doing. I'm realizing that there is room in my art practice for more collaboration, more openness, and more connections. At the same time I'm starting to happily reject my former, outdated notions of what an art career has to look like to be "valid". There are as many ways to be an artist as there are artists out there, and that's a message I want to pass on to the young people I work with.
Briefly walk us through your process of making art or thinking through a new project, focusing on what's most important to you as you create.
Lately I've started to approach my art-making from a big-picture standpoint, whereas before I would have started with an idea for a single painting. I think about what the entire project will look like, what experience the viewer may have walking into the space. In this way, even if I have a standard exhibit of paintings, I think of it as if it was an installation. It's becoming very important to me to connect with others on an authentic, human level through the work. As I move forward with various experimentations with materials, metaphors, etc. I try to consistently come back to what the vision is really about at its core.
Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers?
I really want to appreciate Ingrid and this project. I took a moment to go back ad read through the other artists' responses as well as my own over the years. I can't believe this is the 5th year, and half-way point of the interviews! It is so important that creative people are able to express themselves and have platforms on which to do so, and Ingrid has created a beautiful method of capturing artists' voices.
Find Anne Garvey on Instagram
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