ANNE SIEMS
ANNE SIEMS
Artist Statement
“I was born in Berlin, Germany. From 1969 to 1971 I lived near Buenos Aires, Argentina. My first extended stay in the US was as an exchange student in 1986. Then in 1991, after finishing my MFA in Berlin, I moved to Seattle, WA.
My work has moved from semi-abstract, room-filling plant and insect drawings, to paintings of detailed botanical and anatomical imagery on waxed paper bags, to my current work of young women and children on wood panel. The thread here being my fascination and awe of life on this planet and the connectedness I feel to all, but find hard to describe in words.
In the process of finding healing for chronic pain and fatigue (I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia eight years ago.), I have deepened my interest in shamanism, ceremony and the deep nurturing that nature provides.
In my work I try to be as honest and true to myself as I can without losing discernment. I aim as best as I can for sincerity, intimacy and openness in my paintings. In them I find the beginning of something that touches the universal. It is a place where others can touch the magic and sensuality that gets exposed in the process.
I think deep inside of us lives a longing to experience a sense of 'falling in love'. A visceral experience without words. For that to happen, this place needs to be free of irony, social commentary or conceptual humor. I am looking in my work to find the point in which we feel a certain ache – the ache caused by the knowledge that life is full of light and dark, sacred and profane, beauty and ugliness, life and death.”
The Watercolour Series
“The bald women who are the subject of these artworks are experiencing deep vulnerability. Hair loss is often impactful, especially for women. I wanted to show vulnerability but whilst each woman faces the viewer head on, showing strength and courage rather than victimhood.
The tattoos I adorn these women with deal with my love of the forest, but also the danger of forests dwindling due to the ongoing encroachment to wild forestland which importantly supports the health of plants and species, and with that the wellbeing of our planet.”
Education
Master of Fine Arts, Hochschule der Kunste, Berlin, Germany 1991
Siems, a Fulbright Scholar, has exhibited in Canada and in Europe and widely throughout the United States.
Her work is included in such collections as the Arkansas Art Centre, Boise Art Museum, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and the Tacoma Art Museum.