Consuelo

Artist Statement:

Now that I have retired from teaching art I have turned my creative energy to my own work. I paint in a variety of styles ranging from realistic, to abstract, and to decorative. I do seek beauty, and my art is mostly joyful, but it can also be dark when I need to express life’s sorrows. It generally begins with an urgent impulse resulting from something that has touched me and that I feel the need to capture. I can be inspired by people, things, places, and also by other works of art. I feel that I am on a journey filled with discoveries, surprises, delights and disappointments. The path is sometimes easy and smooth, or it can be challenging, requiring a struggle of heart and mind. Occasionally I take wrong turns and need to find a way back, but usually I emerge with insights and, I hope, new depths to my work. When the road has become too comfortable and familiar I become bored with it and am drawn to explore new approaches. But I do try to be true to myself, for I believe it is as important to be honest and sincere in one’s art as in one’s life.

I have never felt the need to exhibit or sell my paintings, preferring to keep them around me like old friends or give them to people I love. For some time however I am moved to share my work with a wider audience. The prospect of exhibiting for the first time is stimulating as well as intimidating.

Artist Biography:

Born in England, Ann Myers Gaposchkin moved to France as a child and received a lycee education in Paris. After receiving the baccalaureate she attended art school in Paris for 2 years (Atelier Charpentier in Montparnasse and Ecole d”Arts Appliqués de la rue Duperre).

After her marriage she moved to the US and continued her studies at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts from which she graduated as a graphic arts major. She completed one more year at the Museum School as a graduate student. While raising a young family she worked in textile design, painting silk scarves and dress materials. She sold her work in New York and Cambridge where her outlet was the Window Shop on Brattle Street. In the seventies she earned an Art Education degree from Tufts University/Museum School. For the next 25 years she taught art at the John Glenn Middle School in Bedford, while continuing to pursue her own work in design, ceramics, sculpture and painting. She has also written and illustrated several childrens’ books for her grandchildren, nephews and nieces.

Now retired from teaching, she devotes as much time as possible working in her studio in Lexington. She returns every year to her family’s country house in Bourbonnais and also spends time at her cottage in Maine.