"Harvest Sky" by Anna Bland
Artist Bio:
Anna Bland was born and raised in Ames and Gilbert, studied English, art, and religion at Central College in Pella, and moved home to Ames after college. She and her husband have four children, whom she homeschools. Anna began selling her art locally and showing in local businesses in January, 2020.
Anna has a long history of chronic pain conditions, and this along with her very busy life as a mother led her to experiment with fluid art. She always loved painting, but physically and logistically could not do traditional painting techniques that require hours and hours of sitting or standing at an easel. She learned to adapt so that she could continue to create art even with chronic pain and disability. While her pain has improved, she has maintained her love of this medium.
Artist Statement:
My current work is primarily fluid painting. I am inspired by the natural world, especially by the light, power, and beauty in the sky. Fluid art lends itself beautifully to the sky’s wild freedom and unpredictability, exploring the rich variety of colors at any given time and the changes throughout Iowa’s seasons. In landscapes I emphasize the sky, evoking a sense of wonder and respect for the vastness of creation and our relative smallness within it, humbling and elevating us as we meditate on it, inspiring us to consider how best we can actively care for and steward the natural world.
I juxtapose the formal elements of art such as color, movement, contrast, texture, and composition with a very fluid, informal medium. It’s like a joyful, delightful collaboration with nature and physics. I spend a lot of time working with the interplay of what I can choose and manipulate, and when I should just let go and let it do what it will.
