An Interview with Ann Gale

Ann is a figurative painter based in Seattle. If you are not familiar with her work, you definitely want to spend some time to really look at what she is doing in her painting. On the surface you’ll note her distinctive brushwork, how she weaves ribbons of color through figure and background, and plays with edges. But as she will tell you herself, she is constantly setting up challenges for herself to push her painting further.   She’s a painter’s painter, which is probably why during these interviews when I ask an artist if you would like to own a painting by any living artist, whose would it be, Ann’s name comes up often. She received her bachelor of fine arts from Rhode Island College and her MFA from Yale University.   Ann has been the recipient of several prestigious awards for her painting - including a Guggenheim Fellowship. She has had solo shows at the Portland Art Museum  and the Weatherspoon Art Museum, in North Carolina. Ann’s work can be seen in person at the Dolby Chadwick Gallery in San Francisco and at Prographica Drawings in Seattle. I met Ann last summer at the JSS program in Civita Italy where she was the guest of honor. I don’t think there are enough superlatives to adequately describe what a great painter and human being Ann is.  She asks the right questions to understand where her students are and then drops these knowledge bombs that tweak your perspective making it impossible to see your  painting in the same way again. I’m a little jealous of the students at the University of Washington School of Art, where Ann is a professor. While in Italy, we went on weekly excursions to visit museums. Sometimes that meant a 3 hour bus ride. Several times I sat with Ann and we talked about art, life, and the unbearable heatwave that just wouldn’t die down. In Naples, we stood in awe in front of Caravaggio’s the Flagellation of Christ and dissected the composition, seeing nuances you just can’t get in a book. On those trips and during Ann’s critiques, I often wished I could record the conversations. So I’m excited to have the opportunity again to chat with her and share the conversation with you.