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ANN TOWER
Please contact the gallery for purchasing information
Ann Tower has been a professional artist in Lexington since earning a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Kentucky in 1975. She opened her gallery on Main Street in February 2002, a few years after having co-founded and co-owned the Tower Cerlan Gallery on Short Street. During the 70s and 80s, she taught in the UK Art Department, directed the UK Center of Contemporary Art, and served as art critic for the Lexington Herald-Leader from 1983 to 1992. She co-founded and directed the Hackley Gallery in Winchester, KY in 1995, where she developed expertise about folk art by working for three years with renowned folk art dealer Larry Hackley. Her gallery on Main Street is now in its sixth year. She married artist Robert Tharsing in 1973. Their daughter, Lina, was born in 1983. For the past 30 years, she and her family have spent summers painting on an island in Nova Scotia. When in Lexington, she usually works at a studio in her home, or she paints in the countryside. Ms. Tower's work has been exhibited widely in museums
and galleries throughout the region and in New York, California,
and New England, as well as in Italy, Canada, and
Ecuador. Her paintings are in numerous
private and public collections, including, in Lexington, the University
of
Kentucky Art Museum, Central Bank, and Nancy Barron and Associates.
Artist's Statement I love painting and its history, and
I approach it in a way that acknowledges the formal and abstract
qualities that continue to resonate. Transforming what is seen and
felt into an image fascinates me. My work is based on direct observation
-- still lifes set up in my studio, views out the window, and sometimes
a place I visit. I feel a strong connection to my subjects; they
are places and objects that have particular meaning for me. Painting
is a means to understanding and interpreting the world. It is the
reason to be still, to observe, and to contemplate. Within the calm,
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