"My art is a history of my travels, dreams, observations of natural forms, which from afar brings you closer to an intimate meeting of marvels. I use a combined technique which I have developed over the years to express my own voice and vision."
Ann Dunbar is an international quoted artist, born and educated in the UK and now living in France. Armed with a teachers' Diploma and an arts degree specializing in Textiles, she taught in schools and colleges in the UK for sixteen years before becoming a full-time artist. Her unique mixed technique whereby she embellishes her paintings on paper with embroidery, her signature work, has received acclaim and to date and acquired fifty awards since moving to France in 1996. Ann has exhibited worldwide: Brazil, Japan, Cambodia, China, Australia, Russia, Emirates and in Europe.
Dunbar's pieces are in various museums, private and corporate collections in China, Japan, the UK, Australia and Denmark. She is represented by Shoalhaven Fine Art Gallery in NSW, Australia, G&C Gallery in England and Paola Trevisan International Italy. Her work reveals a passion for the fragile beauty of the natural world.
The idiosyncratically layered works of Ann Dunbar combine painting and embroidery in a unique and painstaking technique that involves meticulous marks with a wet brush as well as with her old Bernina sewing machine. "This precious machine, given to me by my mother, is the most important tool in my creative world." describes Ann.
Taking a medium that is typically associated with crafts, Dunbar's large mixed media works carry through the traditionally feminine practice of sewing, blending thread and paint into high works of art.
Full of color, detail, and texture, each work displays a complex arrangement of interconnected lines and motifs stitched together to produce a balanced and intricate mixed media composition. The works may require hours of careful gazing to take in the full spectrum of labor that the artist put in as well as to appreciate the delicate beauty and refined expertise which the finished piece reflects.
It is no surprise that Ann continues to exhibit and sell her remarkable artworks internationally. Visit her website to enjoy more of her recent works.
- Circle Foundation for the Arts, Director
