Anna West was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, between Amish country and the coal regions. She took trains to Atlantic City and Philadelphia on her father’s train pass and mingled with nearby Pennsylvania Dutch. After graduating from nursing school and taking photography classes, she left Reading for San Francisco in 1980. While working in photo labs there, she photographed punk bands and eventually played in one herself. Late in 1984, she moved to New York City, the East Village first, then Williamsburg, where she published photographs in Brooklyn newspapers and exhibited in Williamsburg galleries. She started to paint with oils on canvas in 1999. In 2004 she moved to Beacon, New York. She paints daily, and when she travels, she paints on old book covers and scraps of canvas.
Links
The Highlands Current Article: Painting a New Life, By Alison Rooney
The Best American Poetry blog article: "Restaurant was my rock" by Anna West
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Blue Edge, Garrison Art Center, Garrison NY
2018 Chairs, Denise Gianna Designs, Beacon NY
2017 Paintings, Space Create, Newburgh NY
2014 Detail: Paintings, Barge Watch, Newburgh NY
2009 Paintings, Alternative Books, Kingston NY
Group Exhibitions
2023 Holiday 2023, Labspace, Hillsdate NY
All Fools, at Icebox4, Williamsburg Brooklyn, curated by Tom Fitzgibbon
Balance, Howland Public Library
2022 Best in Show, Emerge Gallery, Saugerties NY
Small Works Show, Woodstock Art Association and Museum, Woodstock NY
2021 Artists Invite Artists, Queen City 15, Poughkeepsie NY
2020 Inaugural exhibit, AGC Gallery, Newburgh NY
20/20 Vision, Holland Tunnel, Newburgh NY
Small Works, Garrison Art Center, Garrison NY, my painting “Green Chair” received Director’s Choice Award)
2019 After Dark, Annmarie Sculpture & Arts Center, Solomons MD
The Chair Show, ArtsWestchester, White Plains NY
Still Moving, Howland Cultural Center, Beacon NY
2018 The Greatest Show on Earth, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn NY
Triggered, Milkweed Gallery, Sugar Loaf NY
2016 Nation IV, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn NY
2015 What’s Love, Teran Studio, Newburgh NY
2014 Dolls, Figureworks, Brooklyn NY
Framed, Holland Tunnel, Brooklyn NY
Print’s Not Dead, Newspaper Club, Glasgow, Scotland.
2012 One Love, State Gallery of Art, Madhapur, Hyderabad, India
Public Art Projects
2019-23 “Wet Suit Surfer,” poster on bus shelter, Beacon NY
2023 Banner, “Blue Chair,” Wappingers Falls Banner Project
2020 When pandemic broke out, sent recycled love letters to anyone who asked
2017 During Space Create solo exhibit, mailed recycled love letters to visitors
2015 Displayed colored ice and snow photographs for 24 hours on electronic bulletin
board at Howland Public Library, Beacon NY
2013 Gave recycled love letters and diary pages in sealed envelopes to guests at launch
party for art and literature magazine Color Treasury 003, New Orleans LA
2005 Monitored for Christo’s The Gates in Central Park, New York NY
2003 Organized and curated exhibits at 20 Williamsburg galleries for the Williamsburg
Bridge’s 100th birthday party
1995 to 2015 “Hearts on Snow” NYC, Akron OH, St Petersburg Russia, Malmo Sweden.
Bibliography, Interviews, etc
2023 “Painting a New Life,” Interview, Highlands Current, February 10
“Parting Shot,” Chronogram, May issue, photograph on last page
2022 Animal Exhibit, Beacon Free Press, January 5, photograph of painting, quote
2018 “The Art of Instagram,” Highlands Current, January 28
2017 “Portrait of the Artist,” Poughkeepsie Journal, April 19, interview with Barbara Gallo Farrell
2015 “Restaurant Was My Life,” Best American Poetry blog, January 2015
“Ice Art,” Poughkeepsie Journal, January 8
2013 “My shoes look like boats” (drawing), Color Treasury 003
2005 “Gates make park work of art”, Poughkeepsie Journal, February 12, interview with Rebecca Rothbaum
2003 “An Artist’s View of the Williamsburg Bridge,” NPR’s Weekend Edition, June 22