Artist Ann Marie Bartoo

Notes: For the 2020 virtual show sponsored by the Small Point Club, all pieces are priced as unframed. All artist proceeds will be directed to the Maine Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund.  Email: annmariebartoo@gmail.com

Ann’s fascination with art began at a young age. While her mother was occupied elsewhere, she would collect her crayons, tape, construction paper and magnetic alphabet letters to create 3-D compositions on the kitchen refrigerator.

One of her favorite field trips in elementary school was to the Albright Knox Art Museum in Buffalo, NY. She was fascinated with 20^th century artists such as Warhol, Mondrian, Calder, and Nevelson. As a teenager, she was drawn to the watercolors of Singer-Sargent, Wyeth, and Homer, which led her to study with William Stewart, a graphic artist and watercolor landscape painter who attended the Art Students League in NYC (who was influenced by Zorach and Nicolaides, and later affiliated with Salvador Dali and James Sessions–whose watercolors of sport fishing were influenced by Winslow Homer). Ann and Will remained friends until his death in 1997.

Ann’s formal art education included Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute, where she studied under John von Bergen and Marjorie H. Salzillo. After college, Ann pursued a career in the nonprofit sector, and continued to paint and explore other types of work on paper. During graduate school, she developed an interest in the topic of deliberate creativity and creative problem solving, which led to designing and teaching classes in creativity and innovation at the University of Maine, where she is a visiting lecturer. When Ann transitioned into owning her own consulting business, creative problem solving was a top priority in the design of the work and workshops with which she assisted her nonprofit clients.

With a renewed focus on expressing landscapes, Ann spends winters painting in Small Point, Maine, where she also writes and gardens.

“I am not a career artist. I am not a hobbyist. Rather, I view myself as a creative interpreter. The subjects that catch my attention must move me to a point where I feel compelled to begin the journey of interpretation, ultimately sharing the result with others. My goal is for the viewer to have an emotional response, be it surprise, calm, or delight.”

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