Annie Wildey Maker Mondays June 2023

Annie Wildey

Moody Blues, Oil, 20x24in

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Please join us in welcoming the newest member of the SCAA staff to our organization! Annie is our new Development and Marketing Coordinator. She is a new member to SCAA, having joined in 2022, but has entered exhibits here and impressed many with her work. She is also the owner of AiR Studio Gallery in Westerly, where she holds art openings on the first Friday of every month along with several other studios in the area. Annie's work has been displayed in galleries around the world, including China, The U.K., and New York City. To see more of her work, take a look at her Instagram and visit the AiR studio gallery.

​Where are you from, and what do you make?

I was born in Wolverhampton in the UK, but moved to the US in my early 20’s. After many years living in New York city, I gradually moved further east, settling in Westerly, RI. I recently opened a studio gallery with my partner, which we have called AiR. It’s a space to make and show our own work but we have invited several artists to participate in a small group exhibition hanging this summer. It’s been exciting to have a storefront studio, to exhibit and curate the space. 
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I consider myself a painter first, and a printmaker second. I’m a lover of the coastal landscape, with a soft spot for the urban sublime. 

​How long have you been seriously pursuing art?

Hard to put an exact timeframe on but it would probably be about 17 years. At 40, I decided to leave a career working at the British Consulate in New York City to study an MFA at the New York Academy of Art and was awarded a post graduate fellowship. Their program focuses on figurative art which I was really interested in at the time. But funnily enough there wasn’t a figure to be found in my thesis exhibition – it was all landscape! ​

Acadia Rock, Plein Air oil 10x10in

Here Comes the Sun, Detail, Oil

​What inspires you to create?

I’m inspired by nature, and my surroundings, exploring moments of beauty, wonder and awe. When I was living in NYC, I was interested in Industrial landscapes. But after leaving the city for the North Fork of Long Island, spending two years as an artist in residence in the hamlet of Orient, it was hard to ignore the beauty of the coastal landscape and its ever-changing moods. With water all around me I became enthralled with capturing a subject constantly in motion.

​Which artist outside of your chosen medium has had the most impact on your art? What do they do and in what way do they influence you?

Well, I can’t possibly pick one! There are many artists, for as many different reasons. So …
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… My high school art teacher who encouraged me to go to art school. Dan Welden, a master printmaker I met after grad school. Working alongside him on and off for several years gave me an opportunity to experience what a professional studio practice could look like. In terms of art itself, early on I was I blown away by figurative artists Lucien Freud and Jenny Saville for their observation and use of medium. Their paintings have such seductive surfaces. I’d also have to include Gerhard Richter and Anslem Keefer for the same reasons. In terms of printmaking Kathe Kollwitz is someone who can capture such raw human emotion without sentimentality, and the British artist Norman Ackroyd, creates such poetic and dramatic landscape etchings. Oh, and I have to include Richard Serra. Seeing his sculptures in person for the first time was incredibly powerful.

Deep Blue, Oil, 36x48in

Morning Shades of Grey, Oil, 8x10in

​Is there a work of art that has changed your life or how you view the world in some way?
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I wouldn’t say there is necessarily one work of art that has changed my life, but I think art itself has taught me to be a better human being. To have empathy and compassion. To be an observer of my inner and outer world, be still, look, listen, feel. Embrace the process, welcome little accidents, let go of expectations and go with the flow.

As a member of SCAA, what do you like most about us?

As a new member it would be the opportunity to feel part of a community and connect with a wide range of creatives. 

Tell us a joke.

What is Earth without “art” in it?   “Eh…”

To see more of her work
visit Instagram and
 AiR studio gallery.