Anna Jaap

Artist Statement

At the heart of my work as an artist is observing and distilling connections. I particularly enjoy the interrelationship of organic forms at the microscopic level, and the dichotomy of polar opposites maintaining balance. I'm also a proponent of the power of beauty---not only as a viable component of contempoary art, but as a fundamental necessity in our lives.

The work itself is labor intensive, and process driven. I combine the disciplines of printmaking, drawing and painting---slowly building multilayered surfaces with acrylic, charcoal, transfer drawings, and other mediums. Most paintings develop over a period of months, occasionally years. Biology and medical texts, vintage fabrics and textiles, elements from the decorative arts, and my own botanical photography are among some of the materials I reference; the classical structure of the landscape is typically the underlying framework for composition. I tend to work in series, usually groups of eight or ten, and find the work constant and always moving---much like a river.

Bio

Born in Arlington, TX in 1966, Anna Jaap received her BFA Magna Cum Laude from Lipscomb University with an emphasis on plein air painting and printmaking. In the first decade of her career, she worked almost exclusively with the monotype, producing a significant body of abstracted botanicals and landscapes before severe vision problems forced a sabbatical from her work.

After successful treatment, and minimal permanent vision loss, she returned to the studio---foregoing printmaking for painting and the evocative charcoal drawings that continue to play a key role in her work today.

Jaap's pieces are featured in corporate, museum, and private collections around the world. A partial client list includes Avon, BentleyForbes, Ralph Lauren Home, Henredon, Paramount Pictures, Primus, The National Aquarium, and Tiffany.

The artist lives and paints in Nashville, surrounded by the rolling farmland of Tennessee.

Selected Collections and Commissions

Avon, New York, NY

Baptist Hospital, Nashville, TN

Bruce McGraw Graphics, New York, NY

Gary Lee Partners, Chicago, IL

Governor Phil Bredesen and Andrea Conte, Nashville, TN

Henredon, Chicago, IL

Ingram Book Company, Nashville, TN

The National Aquarium, Baltimore, MD

NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY

Paramount Pictures, Hollywood, CA

Primus, Nashville, TN

Ralph Lauren Home, Chicago, IL

Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN

Tiffany, New York, NY

Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN