Anne Appleby

The experience of being in nature versus the experience of looking at a photograph of that same landscape is perhaps the best way to understand the difference between looking at a painting by Anne Appleby versus a reproduction of that same painting. What might first appear as monochromatic panels, are surfaces rich in subtle nuances of color, density, depth, and texture. Combining oil and wax, the paintings consist of thirty or more luminous layers built up through patient application of varied translucent tones, enlivened in the same rich ways that reward close inspection of nature.

The central reference in Anne Appleby’s work is derived from her relationship to the trees, plants, wildflowers, and grasses of Montana and the American West and seasonal changes associated with the natural world. She carefully observes specific plants or seasons and uses their colors as they grow and change in works that are particular to them. “My paintings aren’t about the other world. They’re about our place in this world. What nourishes the soul is the experience of being in the body.” What she paints is glowing fields of color that seem as alive as the plants referenced in her titles.

Biography

Anne Appleby was born in 1954 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and moved to Montana at age 17. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1977 from the University of Montana and embarked on a 15-year apprenticeship with an Ojibwe elder, learning to patiently and deeply observe nature. Appleby would watch and then translate into color the cycles of leaves, stems, buds, fruit, and seeds, transforming nature’s fluid evolution into two-dimensional portraits.

Appleby received her Master of Fine Arts in 1989 from the San Francisco Art Institute and has since exhibited her painting internationally to high acclaim. She has had solo exhibitions at the Tacoma Art Museum, 2018, the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University, Kansas, 2011, the Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch, Germany, 2010, and the Boise Art Museum, 2000. In 2007 the artist was featured at the Villa e Collezione Panza, Varese, Italy, which commissioned a permanent major painting installation. Her paintings are in the permanent collections of the Albright-Knox Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Denver Museum of Art, the Museo d’ARTE Moderna e Contemporea, and numerous other public and private institutions.

Anne Appleby has received grants from the Pollock Krasner Foundation, the Western Arts Federation, and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation; in addition she is the recipient of the SECA Award from the San Francisco Museum of Art, the David S. McMillan Award from the San Francisco Art Institute, and the Northwest Biennial from the Portland Art Museum. 

Education

Philadelphia College of Art, PA (1971)
B.F.A. in Painting, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana (1977)
M.F.A. in Painting, San Francisco Art Institute, California (1989)

Solo Exhibitions

2021
A Hymn for the Mother, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT

2019
Here We Are, Helen E Copeland Gallery, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
Hymn: First Light, Last Light, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, NY

2018
We Sit Together the Mountain and Me, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
The Mountain and Me, Anglim Gilbert Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2017
Winter into Spring, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico

2016
But That Was Then, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR
Nascent, Anglim Gilbert Gallery, San Francisco CA
Montana Spring, Borzo Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2015
Glaisteo River Basin Paintings, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM

2013
Mayor Gallery, London UK
Portland Art Museum Northwest Artists Awards, Portland OR

2012
Danese, New York, NY

2011
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California
Ulrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Witchita, Kansas

2010
The Mayor Gallery, London, England
Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch, Germany

2009
Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, Montana
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California
Schmidt Contemporary, St. Louis, MO

2008
Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Galerie Albrecht, Berlin, Germany

2007
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California
Villa e Collezione Panza, Varese, Italy

2006
Galerie Susanne Albrecht, Munich, Germany

2005
Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington  

2004
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California

2003
Verona: Etchings and Recent Paintings, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington

2002
Imaging Cosmologies, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle
Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California

2001
Sassuolo Ducal Palace, Camera di Fetonte, Sassulo, Italy
Anne Appleby and Wes Mills, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, Montana

2000
Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho
Verona Suite, Crown Point Press, San Francisco
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT
Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Anne Appleby and Wes Mills, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California

1999
Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana

1998
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California
Holter Museum of Art, Helena, Montana
Littlejohn Contemporary, New York, NY
Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington

1997
Littlejohn Contemporary, New York, NY 

1996
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California
Littlejohn Contemporary, New York, NY

1995
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California

1993
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California 

1991
Mincher/Wilcox Gallery, San Francisco, California

1990
The Blue List, installation, Point Reyes Station, California
The Dancing Ground, installation, Mincher/Wilcox Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1989
M.F.A. Exhibition, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, California
Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California

1985
Con-temporary Gallery, Helena, Montana

1981
Governor’s Executive Mansion, Helena, Montana

Group Exhibitions

2021
Painting Deconstructed: Selections from the Northwest Collection, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
Art of Trees, The Gund Gallery, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
Grounded, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA
Anne Appleby, Xylor Jane, Dean Smith & Andy Vogt, Eli Ridgway Gallery, Bozeman, MT

2020
Inaugural Exhibition, Eli Ridgway Gallery, Bozeman, MT

2019
MOTHER NATURE: Elements and Archetypes, Fuse Space, San Francisco, CA

2018
Surprise: New Acquisitions, The Janet Turner Print Museum at California State University, Chico, CA
DNA of Painting, Anglim Gilbert Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Verdant Spring, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA

2016
Indestructible Wonder, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
John Zurier and Friends, Crownpoint Press, San Francisco, CA

2013
Woods, PDX Gallery, Portland, Oregon
Yes No Maybe, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, California
Yes No Maybe, Artists Working at Crown Point Press, The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
The Nature of Women, The Mayor Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2013 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon

2012
Agnes Martin, Robert Ryman, Merrill Wagner and Anne Appleby, Foundation de Lijnen, Oudenburg, Belgium

2011
Painting in Parts, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD
In the Presence of Light, Danese, New York, NY
Hard Edges for Hard Times, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, California
A Printers Spotlight, Fifteen Years of Wildwood Press, University of Missouri, St Louis, Missouri
The Vortexhibition Polyponica, The Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

2010
The Language of Flowers, CRG Gallery, New York, NY
40, The Texas Gallery, Houston, Texas

2009
Here We Are, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula,  Montana
Anne Appleby, Peter Halley, Galerie Albrecht, Berlin,  Germany
Cold Beer, Beautiful Girls, William Shearburn Gallery,  Santa Fe, NM
Four Approaches to Color, James Kelly Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM

2008
Wade Wilson Art, Houston, Texas
Modern Art, Modern Lives, The Austin Museum of  Art, Austin Texas

2007
Elegantly Frugal, Deceptively Simple, curated by Josine Inaco Starrels, SchniederMuseum, Ashland,  Oregon
The Panza Collection: An Experience of Color and Light, The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY

2006
All In The Painted View, Museum of Northwest Art, La Connor, Washington
Shifting Native Stories, Sun Valley Center For The Arts, Ketchum, ID
Inaugural Exhibition, Missoula Art Museum,  Missoula, Montana

2005
La Collezione Panza: Anne Appleby, Stuart Arends, Anne Truitt, Lugano, Switzerland
New Turf, The University of Vermont; FlemingMuseum, Burlington, Vermont

2004-05
WOW: The Work of the Work, Henry Art Gallery Western Bridge, Seattle, WA
Lewis and Clark Territory: Contemporary Artists Revisit Race, Place, and Memory, Tacoma Art Museum, Washington

2003-04
Natural Forces: Earth, Air, Fire and Water, Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho
Flirting with Rodchenko, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

2003
Some Painting, Larry Becker Contemporary Art,  Philadelphia, PA

2002
Conceptual Color: in Albers’ After Image, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California
The Panza di Biumo Collection: Works from the 80s and 90s, Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Roverto, Italy

2001
Beauty without Regret (curated by Robert Kushner), Belles Arts, Santa Fe, NM
Prints by Painters: American Abstractions, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Pushing Paint, Joseph Helman Gallery, New York
Studio la Citta, Verona Italy
Summer Group Show, Joseph Helman, New York
New Montana Painting, Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, Wyoming
Anne Appleby and Wes Mills, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, Montana

2000
Of the Moment: Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection, San Francisco Museum of Fine Art, California
The Panza di Biumo Collection: Works from the 80s and 90s, American Academy in Rome, Italy
Recent Acquisitions from the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, San Francisco Legion of Honor, San Francisco, California
Nature, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, California
Minimalism Then and Now, UC Berkeley ArtMuseum, Berkeley, California

1999
ARZ Natura: The Work of Anne Appleby, Mario Reis and Patrick Zentz, Mildred S. Scott Galleries, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana
Material Issues: Recent Gifts from the Collection of Katherine and James Gentry, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California
Planes of Color, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington

1998
Hands on Color, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue,Washington
In Over our Heads: The Image of Water in Contemporary Art, San Jose Museum of Art,  California
Art From Around the Bay, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California 

1997
A Sense of Color, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, California 

1996
Towards the New Millennium, University of California at Berkeley, California
Abstraction Absolved: Ten Bay Area Painters, Mills College Art Gallery, Oakland, California
San Francisco Art Institute 125th Anniversary Tribute Exhibition, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California
SECA Art Award, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California 

1995
3 Painters, Arts Benicia Center Gallery, Benicia, California 

1993
Heart of Light, The Heart of Silence, Shasta College Art Gallery, Redding CA 

1992
Zen Center Hospice Space, San Francisco, California 

1991
The Lab, San Francisco, California 

1990
For a Fragile Planet, Invitational Show, Gallery Rte One, Point Reyes Station CA
Mincher/Wilcox Gallery, San Francisco, California 

1988
Spring Student Show, San Francisco Art Institute,  San Francisco, California 

1985
Black Orchid Gallery, Butte, Montana

1982
Black Orchid Gallery, Butte, Montana
Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana

Selected Bibliography

Armitage, Dianne. “,“ Santafe.com | THE magazine, July 13, 2015.
Baker, Kenneth. “Tri-Panel Paintings by Anne Appleby,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 22, 1993
_____________. “Art That Colors Reality,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 16, 1995
_____________. “Rural Abstractions In Urban Gallery,” San Francisco Examiner, October 23, 1999
_____________. “Memory Fields” in Anne Appleby|Paintings, catalogue, Greg Kucera Gallery and Galerie Paula Anglim, 2000
_____________. “Appleby, Nakada at Anglim,” San Francisco Examiner, 2002
_____________. “Anne Appleby’s Link to the Environment,” San Francisco Chronicle, 2009. San Francisco Chronicle, September, 2004
_____________. ”Nature, in all it’s Shades, Inspires Pleasing Paintings,” San Francisco Chronicle, 2007
Bonetti, David. “On the Bright Side, Best SECA show in years,” San Francisco Examiner, September 20, 1996
_____________. “Return of the Abstract at Mills,” San Francisco Examiner, December 6, 1996
Brown, Elizabeth. “WOW: The Work of the Work,” catalogue, University of Washington Press, 2004
Codongnato, Mario. “Cosi Panza fa Novanta,” Il Sole 24 Ore, March 26, 2000
Cooper, Ivy. Beacon Art Critic, St. Louis Beacon Blog, 2009
Green, Tyler. Modern Art Notes Podcast, March 1, 2012
Farr, Sheila. “Mind bending Art,” The Seattle Times, November 5, 2004
Fielder, Garland. “Anne Appleby and Maddy Rosenberg,” Arts Houston, 2008
Hacket, Regina. “Ann Appleby,” Seattle Post Intelligencer, November 20, 1998
Hankins, Evelyn C. “New Turf,” catalogue, University of Vermont, 2005
Josslin, Victoria. “Distinctive Artists Make Most with Minimalist Approach,” Seattle Post Intelligencer, October 23, 2000
Kingsley, April. “Perfection,” d’ART International, Winter 1999
Kwasney , Melissa. “Anne Appleby & Wes Mills,” Art Museum of Missoula, Montana, 2001
Mabscott, David. “Minimalist Mandala,” World Art, issue #14
Meixner, Christiane. “KunstStucke Verwischt,” Der Tagesspiegal, 2009
Muroni , Alessia. “Due Mosre per ‘The Panza di Biumo Collection,’” Arte e Critica, April 2000
Roche, Harry. “Anne Appleby and Robert Bechtle,” San Francisco Bay Guardian, December 11, 1996
Scholz, Zachery Royer. “The Blue Planet,” Art Practical, San Francisco, 2009
Updike, Robin. “The Color of Memory,” The Seattle Times, November 12,1998
“The Nature of Women,” The London Telegraph, 2013
“L’artista del colore,” L’ecosistema delia cultura contemporanea, 2007
“Gallery Gets a Boost,” Buffalo News, 2007

Selected Collections

Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo, New York
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho
Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley California
The Capitol Group, Los Angeles, California
The Contemporary Austin, Austin, Texas
Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento, California
Daimler Art Collection, Stuttgart/Berlin, Germany
Denver Museum of Art, Denver, Colorado
General Mills Corporation, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle
Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Palo Alto, California
The Janet Turner Print Museum at California State University, Chico, California
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington
MART Museo d’ARTE Moderna e Contemporea di Trento e Rovereto, Italy
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Panza Collection, Lugano, Switzerland
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
SAFECO Corporation, Seattle, Washington
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington
Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas
Walker Richer & Quinn, Seattle, Washington
Yellowstone Museum of Art, Billings, Montana