Ann Salviazul
Ann is an Utah native and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Southern Utah University. She relocated to Durango, Colorado in 2015, and then Bayfield, Colorado in 2019 after spending a few years in Missouri. She is impassioned by the arid beauty of the desert as well as high mountain country and feels most at home in the southwest United States. Ann habitually carries a sketchbook and also travels with her painting materials. She gathers her inspiration and subject matter from her daily experiences, interactions, and the local environment. Her work is typically captured from life, often drawn or painted on-site.
Exhibitions, Accomplishments, Affiliations & Awards
Ann’s artwork has been shown in more than sixty art exhibits throughout Utah, Nevada, Missouri and Colorado, spanning over 40 years of artistic development. She is currently a member of the Plein Air Painters of the Four Corners, Colorado Watercolor Society, Western Colorado Watercolor Society, New Mexico Watercolor Society and the Utah Watercolor Society. Some of her awards include: First Place, Plein Air Painters of the Four Corners: Honorable Mention, Colorado Watercolor Society; Artist-In-Residence at Willowtail Springs, Mancos, Colorado; Best of Show, Two-Dimensional, MOSI Art Guild, Kirksville, Missouri; Purchase Award, Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery, Cedar City, Utah; and Purchase Award, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, Utah.
Artist Statement
I consistently carry a sketchbook because I find myself compelled to pick up pencil or pen and draw whatever I see or experience. This visual journaling provides me deep insight and is a sort of meditative practice as I observe life and am witness to it. My artwork is representational and sometimes abstracted, created with watercolor, gouache, charcoal and pencil or pen. It originates from direct observation of life, sometimes completed on-the-spot, or finished in the studio later. Images produced exclusively in the studio emanate from years of daily sketches, and/or painting studies. All this informs the finished artwork, hopefully conveying the feeling or sense of place and time.