Anne Labovitz

Anne Labovitz (born 1965) is an American artist based in St Paul, Minnesota, whose practice includes painting, drawing, and printmaking as well as experimental film and sound. Labovitz has a degree in psychology and art from Hamline University in St. Paul.

Her work considers many themes often returning to the central notion of an enduring interest in people—the human spirit, its emotional resonance, and the way it manifests in relationships. Working within the portraiture tradition, she employs a process of layering—from multiple images and text to conceptual connections and multiple elements of physicality found in mark-making and materiality. The notion of contemporary portraiture and human connection—and the activation of the space that connects us—are central to an important new direction in her oeuvre. This new direction is manifesting in a transition from traditional, expressionist self-portraits to composite portraits depicting several people.

Most recently, she has begun incorporating text, audience engagement, and public interventions as a vital element of the creative method. Recent solo exhibitions include: the Burnet Gallery in Minneapolis; the Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth, Minnesota; and the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library in La Jolla, CA. She has also exhibited throughout her career at national and international venues, including Chapman Art Center at Cazenovia College in New York and Talgut die Schönen, in Kunste, Germany. Important group shows in the recent past include Blood Memoirs at the Tweed Museum, curated by Amber-Dawn Bear Robe and Someone Else’s Story at Burnet Gallery in Minneapolis.

Over the past few years, Labovitz’s practice has evolved to include public, interactive components using art as social practice. These public projects include: I Know You public collaborative drawing, as a visiting artist, for the Walker Art Center’s Free First Saturday and Projecting the City, for Northern Spark at the Weisman Art Museum. In 2015, her culturally, socially engaged solo exhibition, 122 Conversations, will commence in Thunder Bay, Canada and continue through 2017. 122 Conversations will travel to the five sister cities of Duluth found in Canada, Sweden, Russia, Japan and Iraqi Kurdistan.

Additionally, she has been commissioned to create a piece of artwork utilizing her interactive research methods for maurices headquarters being built in downtown Duluth. This large scale piece will explore maurices’ history, its peoples and their long term relationship with the city of Duluth. Labovitz’s work is a part of the permanent collections at the Frederick R Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, MN; the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla; the Minnesota Museum of American Art, St Paul, MN; the Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth; and the International Gallery of Portrait in Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as many private collections. Additionally, her work has been published in Studio Visit Magazine, Vol. 19, New American Paintings Midwest 2010 and the Penang International Printmaking Exhibition 2010 and International Contemporary Artists, vol II and III. She has co-authored several books on portraiture with Australian artist, Carole Best, and provided illustrations for the children’s book, Honoral & Zarina. Many of these publications, including the artist book, Color Train, were purchased in 2015 by the Minnesota Historical Society and added to their archives.

Her artwork has been written and discussed in the Chicago Sun Times, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Villager, the Duluth Tribune, Letoile Magazine, and the Taos Review, and spoken about on Minnesota Public Radio among others. She recently has been named 2013 Artist of the Year in Duluth. Intimately connected and active in the art community in the metro area, Labovitz is currently a member of the Board of Trustees for the Walker Art Center, in Minneapolis, an Advisory Board member of The Artist Book Foundation in New York City, a member of the strategic planning committee for the Minnesota Museum of American Art and a former member of the Colleagues Advisory Board at the Weisman Art Museum on the campus of the University of Minnesota. In 2015, she joined the Advisory Board of Glowtown, an artist led organization facilitating creative workshops for children and adults. Her passion for art education both in schools and in the community keeps her teaching within both public and private schools and offering workshops to artists of all ages around the Twin Cities. Labovitz’s work is represented by the Burnet Gallery, Le Méridien Chambers in Minneapolis.

Current Art and/or research interest:

My work is driven by all things human; connection, relationship, memories, loss, perseverance, stories and record keeping. Delving into the core motivations of my practice will provide a pathway into next projects and clarity of purpose within my work and writing. Can the creation of metaphorical soup, explore accessibility and community, what forms can it take? Why is it important to me?

More about the artist: HERE

122conversations.com