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
Highlands current Article "Back to Williamsburg" by Marc Ferris
The Highlands Current Article: Painting a New Life, By Alison Rooney
Solo Exhibitions
2026 12508, Hudson Beach Glass, Beacon, NY
2024 Paleochora’s Colors, Art Flow Studio, Paleochora, Crete, Greece
2023 Blue Edge, Garrison Art Center, Garrison NY
2018 Chairs, Denise Gianna Designs, Beacon NY
2017 Paintings, Space Create, Newburgh NY
Group Exhibitions
2026 Dogs and Cats, Saturday Gallery, Kinderhook NY
Surface Matters, Artspace @ Krasdale, White Plains NY
In Relations Super Secret Projects, 484 Main Street, Beacon NY
2025 The New Bohemia Now, Untouchable, Newburgh NY
The Holiday Show, LabSpace, Hilldale NY
Geography as Destiny, Solas Studios, New York NY
(G)narly, Icebox4, Brooklyn NY
2024 Welcome Home, Jane Street, Saugerties NY
All Aboard, G Gallery, Watsonville CA
Personal Protest, Super Secret Projects, Beacon NY
2023 All Fools, Icebox4, Brooklyn NY
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 20/20 Vision, Holland Tunnel, Newburgh NY
Small Works, Garrison Art Center, Garrison NY
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
2016 Nation IV, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn NY
2014 Dolls, Figureworks, Brooklyn NY
Framed, Holland Tunnel, Brooklyn NY
Print’s Not Dead, Newspaper Club, Glasgow,ScotlandPublic
Art Projects
2026 Grant to revive “Hearts on Snow’’ for Snow As Material, Museum of Contemporary Artists,
2023-26 Blue Chair, Banner Project, Wappingers Falls NY
2019-24 Wet Suit Surfer, poster on bus shelter, Beacon NY
2013 Gave away recycled love letters and diary pages in sealed envelopes at launch party for art and literature magazine Color Treasury 003, New Orleans LA
2005 Monitor for Christo’s and Jeanne Claude’s The Gates in Central Park, NYC
2003 Organized and curated exhibits at 20 Williamsburg galleries for the Williamsburg Bridge’s 100th birthday party
1995- “Hearts on Snow” painted and photographed in New York NY; Akron OH;
2015 Saint Petersburg, Russia; and Malmö, Sweden
Bibliography, Interviews, etc
2025 Surface Matters, catalog, for exhibit curated by Kirsten Kucer for Art Spaces@Krasdale
Curated The New Bohemia Now, exhibit with catalog of Hudson Valley artists who lived in Williamsburg before 2000. Untouchable, Newburgh NY
“Back to Williamsburg” by Marc Ferris Highlands Current, January 31,
2023 “Painting a New Life,” by Alison Rooney Highlands Current, February 10,
“Parting Shot,” Chronogram, May issue, photograph on last page
2017 “Portrait of the Artist,” Poughkeepsie Journal, April 19, interview with Barbara Gallo Farrell
“Ice Art,” Poughkeepsie Journal, January 8
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
1998 Change Inc Emergency Grant
*** During the 1990s exhibited at Brand Name Damages, Minor Injury, Annie Herron’s Test Site, Holland Tunnel, and (many times) the Right Bank, all in Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY