I couldn't see myself anymore... I saw someone else
Acrylic and Photos on Wood Panel | 29.5" x 23"
BALANCING
LIGHT AND
DARK
Gove’s recent work has focused on disability, Alzheimer’s, and social movements. She has also been affected by natural disasters, such as Hurricane Sandy, and is concerned about the effects of climate change and pollution. By layering these issues into her work, she creates complex and compelling pieces that invite viewers to explore the hidden depths of her art.
Gove’s art is about more than just the surface of things; it is about the complex relationships and connections that make up our world. It is about the things we cannot say in words. And it is about the passion and inspiration art can bring to our lives.
“I seek to share my experiences with the world and get them outside my head,” Gove says. “I want to share my passion for art and to create a dialogue about the issues that matter.”
Gove grew up in Southern California, where her father worked as a civil engineer. In addition to frequent days spent at the beach, Gove’s family would spend every weekend in Silverado Canyon. Gove’s father worked the two acres of unimproved land, hacking away with a pick and shovel like a sculptor. He paid his children a penny bucket for rocks. He built a house, and then the family moved there permanently. Gove was a quiet child, living in her own world inside her mind. Her introspection meant that the social aspects of school were challenging, but she loved learning. Gove’s journey to becoming an artist was a winding one. She had no support for her creative aspirations, so she worked as a cashier after high school and then completed secretarial school.
Alzheimer's Memory Series: Architecture Theme | Acrylic on canvas | 44" x 49"
After giving birth to her first son, Gove felt the need to further her education and enrolled at Santa Ana College, where she earned an Associate of Arts degree in history. She also took her first drawing class and began to see the world as an artist.
Gove went on to take courses at UCLA, where she furthered her art education by taking a printmaking course and learning the techniques of the craft. The instructor told her to look inside herself for inspiration. The experience was intimidating, and what she found was dark but intriguing, sparking a profound desire to continue creating.
After leaving UCLA, Gove returned to her parent’s home in Silverado Canyon and enrolled at the University of California, Irvine, where she studied under well-known art historian Phil Leider and contemporary artists Jerry Anderson, Tony Delap, Craig Kauffman, and printmaker John Paul Jones.
Invigorated by her experiences in class, Gove decided to pursue art full-time, but when she told her father, he told her to quit and get a real job. Now dedicated to pursuing art, Gove instead chose to live out of her pickup truck for one year to continue producing art and receive her B.A. in studio art at UC Irvine. Gove was accepted into a graduate program at Pratt Institute in New York but ultimately decided to stay at UC Irvine so she could better care for her young son. While pursuing her MFA, her work was exhibited widely and showcased in the prestigious Variations III show (catalog produced). After receiving her MFA at UC Irvine, she moved her studio to Los Angeles and continued working and showing in California.
In 1995, Gove married and moved to New York. Wanting to learn more about traditional techniques of drawing and painting, she studied at the Art Students League of New York for six years, studying under Ephraim Rubenstein, Michael Burban, and Mary Beth McKenzie.
Gove added two sons through the marriage that brought her to New York, but while the marriage didn’t last, Gove stayed on the east coast, where she still resides today, continuing to create.
Gove’s studio is in the Leonardo section of Middletown, New Jersey, on the Raritan Bay, where New York City meets the Jersey Shore, and rivers and forests meet the Atlantic Ocean.
THE COMPELLING ART OF ANNA JEWEL GOVE
Anna Gove’s art is about the world around us and the experiences that shape our lives. She is inspired by the light and shadows she sees, the plants and animals she observes, and her emotions and experiences. Through her art, she seeks to share her unique perspective with the world and to create a dialogue about the issues that matter to her.
The Artist in her Studio
Working in her studio every day, Gove typically writes down her thoughts and ideas for paintings as soon as she has them, without editing. If she sees something she wants to paint, she will do a quick sketch or take a picture with her phone.However, Gove notes that the images in her mind differ from the scene’s reality. She has learned to present an image representationally but with some degree of abstraction.
After developing an initial idea, Gove’s creative process moves to further refining ideas and impressions in a sketchbook. She may do some research if she is working on a specific concept. Once she has decided upon the idea, she will choose a scale and medium and prepare a canvas. She creates a pencil sketch on the surface, followed by an undercoat, a thin paint wash, and more paint. She notes that she often lets ideas ferment like a fine wine before beginning to work on them.
Drawing is the foundation of every piece for Gove. She draws from life or photographs, occasionally from memory if she wants to distort the image. She looks at the image and begins hacking away at it, line by line until the image starts to emerge. She is persistent in her process, often working on an image until it is just how she wants it.
For her photo collage works, Gove has a set of rules that she follows: she comes up with a concept or idea, does a rough sketch in her drawing book, takes photos of the scene or elements comprising it, prints the photos as 4” x 6” glossy prints, cuts the photos into one-inch squares and sorts the pieces by color. She then draws the image onto a prepared support, paints the image, and selects areas of the finished painting to apply the photos. Finally, she varnishes the finished work.
Gove’s work is intellectually challenging as she seeks to turn thoughts into visual representations. For example, her painting “Mother of a Teenager” was born from the challenges she experienced raising her two youngest sons. Similarly, her Alzheimer’s Memory series was inspired by her father’s admittance to a locked memory care unit.
Gove’s work often features patterns and repetition, which she says can be meditative. She enjoys the process of seeking out patterns and seeing what the final result will be. The photo collage series is an alternative means of introducing unexpected patterns and reflecting upon the fleeting nature of time.
Gove has shown her work in many venues over the years, including the Monmouth Museum and the Brassworks Gallery. She has also been published in the Orange County Register and the LA Times. She is a member of the Art Students League of New York, the Art Alliance of Monmouth County, Monmouth Arts, Mensa, and the Sierra Club.
Gove’s aspirations center around expressing her unique vision of the world through her artwork and sharing it with others. Gove’s art is a way for her to interact with the world and to share her thoughts and emotions. Gove believes in embracing both the light and the dark sides of life, and her artwork reflects the complexity and beauty of the world. As time passes, she increasingly appreciates life’s beauty and fleeting nature and uses her artwork to help others appreciate that beauty.