Ann Graham

ANN GRAHAM

Ann Graham grew up in Boston, Massachusetts.  She graduated in 1971 with a BSN from Northeastern University, and in 1973 from Tufts University School of Nurse Anesthesia.  Relocating to the Washington, D.C. area inspired her interest in abstract drawing, colored pencil drawing, silk painting and quilting.  She has pursued both her professional career and artistic interests, but has devoted her time to artistic interests since 2007.  She is currently a full time studio artist and lives in Silver Springs, Maryland.  Graham teaches silkscreening, dyeing techniques, and indigo (vat) dyeing.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work is based on a series of squares.  The first, Birth of a Square, was created with a very square profile in a black and white palette.  The second piece, City Square, distorts the familiar square motif and introduces color and heavy thread textures, while the third piece, Almost Squared, shows restrained color application and a more traditional profile.

I use color as a way to communicate movement, energy and transmission of thought, from simple colored paint and dye explorations to more subtle thread play.  I found abandoning elements of traditional quilting difficult, and so kept the spirit of a whole cloth quilt in these interpretations of the visual form.

The square remains for me a robust symbol - one upon which traditional quilting is based, yet flexible enough to be transfigured into my personal image of movement.