Anne Bannock

Anne Bannock

I don’t remember how I came across Anne Bannock’s website but her work instantly appealed to me.  Anne was one of my ‘first response artists’. I sent an introductory email one evening explaining who I was, how Poems in the Waiting Room worked and my exhibition plans and hopes. Anne emailed the following day –  Poems in the Waiting Room sounds an intriguing exhibition and I am interested in taking part. At the moment I am making collage works which are aimed to be a “snatch of time”. Looking forward to hearing from you.

I was delighted with Anne’s reply and quickly emailed her a selection of poems hoping there would be one that appealed to her. I didn’t want to lose her interest! And Anne replied – I have had trouble deciding which poem  – there are so many good ones.

However, the decision has been made…….

 Introducing Anne Bannock

Kina Cliffs

Colouring books and crayons were my favourite Xmas and birthday gifts when I was a child in the 1940s. Later my father gave me old log books which had some unused pages. These were my drawing books for several years.

Beach wedding 2

I left secondary school with a Diploma of Fine Arts preliminary, with the hope of going to Art School. However, art was not considered a useful occupation so I trained as a nurse. During my student nursing years I made a visual diary using ink and watercolour. These sketches were later reproduced in several publications about Christchurch Hospital.

Plate and jug

Marriage, three children and dairy farming in the Waikato/King Country were busy years, but with  encouragement from my husband, I was able to attend various art related workshops including an etching course tutored by Susan Flight. I eventually bought an etching press and was able to produce etchings at home as well as oil and watercolour paintings.

Country fair

In 1981 we moved from our King Country farm to a lifestyle block in the Orinoco Valley near Motueka, a beautiful place with hills, rivers and mountains, and nearby beaches. There were plenty of old rustic sheds on our block and two of them – the old cowshed and the shearing shed – now serve as my studio and gallery. They are open to the public during the summer.

Over the years I have had nine creations accepted for The World of Wearable Art show and been a finalist in the Telecom phone book competition six times. Paintings have appeared in numerous solo and shared exhibitions.

In 2010 I enrolled with the Learning Connexion, an International School for Art and Creativity. I joined the Honours class as a part-time distant delivery student  and  have now started the Advanced course -level 7.  Since starting the course I have become interested in more abstract  ideas and enjoy working with mixed media using watercolour, acrylic, soft pastels, charcoal, fabric and found objects. Although I still work in an illustrative style I am enjoying searching for the essence of a subject to produce an abstract result.

Washday

If you’d like to see more of Anne’s art have a look here