About Anne Q. McKeown

As a visual artist, a maker of things, it is teaching, collaborations with artists of all mediums, and work with groups of people internationally, that have given McKeown insight into the splendid ability of the artist’s mind. McKeown is empowered by these experiences. They are all part of her practice in a lifelong search to find and exercise her voice.

I am not looking to create an order. I am recording a moment of being.” 

— Anne Q. McKeown

At the base of this search is an intensely remembered understanding of image making at age four. Her identity as an image creator grew as she did. Work in water color paintings, drawing, oil paint, and printmaking were all investigated mediums. In 1995, handmade paper entered McKeown’s vocabulary. In the decades since the first sheet was pulled, she has relied on the plasticity of cellulose in her collaborations. In her individual work she uses handmade paper as both substrate, and for three-dimensional interpretation.

She has traveled to and worked in Egypt, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Cuba, Nigeria, and South Africa. McKeown holds her B.A in Studio Art from Skidmore College and her MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University School of Art.

She writes: “My interest in how things work lead to my attraction to many mediums. I might have become someone different if a sense of wonder for the spaces and awe-inspiring objects in museums had not captured me at an early age. Then, as I worked, I never felt satisfied. There was always more to perfect, more to say in the work.

It was through printmaking, and then papermaking, that I experienced a shift from working solo with full authorship, to working in collaboration or teaching group workshops to empower artists with understanding of this medium. Through my work I was able to spread the pleasure, beauty and inherent personality of fiber. Handmade paper allows me to involve this medium from a humble beginning toward discoveries in three dimensions.

My work does not need to create a sculptural space; however, I have less interest in materials that don’t begin with texture and surface. A hands-on approach is critical in my work; I work as a painter might work, through trial, error, and erasure, and as the imagery presents itself in response to the initial concept. With an evolved vision I have developed the skill to choose and then change the presentation, allowing me to enter a realm of play as the result of decades of experience.

Now I have returned to working alone. Though at times I need an assistant, most studio time is spent alone in silence, developing my images. My work gives voice to the world around me, punctuated with reference to images that have affected my love of art. My work is always based on a story even if I am not able to fully describe the story in the moment of making. Contemporary social issues, filtered through my life experience, are a jumping off point for my choice of imagery. The work does not rely on easily accessible imagery, so it has been thrilling to have others respond to the core messages of my work; it exists without a unilateral message or simplified statement.” 

Read the essay “Ways of Holding: The Art of Anne Q. McKeown” written by fellow artist and colleague Dahlia Elsayed in 2014, and learn more about the artist directly when you visit her website at www.anneqmckeown.com

Selected Solo Exhibitions

• 2019 – “Line/Language,” Center for Visual Arts Gallery at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ
• 2019 – “Folding the Line,” Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ 
• 2014 – “Getting in Front of Flow,” SOHO20 CHELSEA, New York, NY 
• 2014 – “Strange Truth,” Printmaking Center of New Jersey, Branchburg, NJ 
• 2010 – “Anne Q McKeown Prints,” University of Dallas, Irving, TX 
• 2005 – “Disruptive Pattern,” 55 Mercer Gallery, New York, NY 
• 2003 – “Lamia Ink!” Gallerie 141, Nagoya, Japan 

Selected International Group Exhibitions

• 2012 – “Coming of Age: 21 Years of Artist Proof Studio,” Artist Proof Studio, Johannesburg, South Africa
• 2005 – “Together – Again,” Lamia Ink! at Art Forum JARFO, Kyoto, Japan 
• 2004 – “Fish/Le Poisson,” Mail Art, Liege, Belgium 
• 2001 – “Encuentro Cuba/Canada,” Centro de Arte, Holguin, Cuba 
• 1975 – “Art and Language,” K.A.A. Gallery, Toronto, Canada

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 2019 – “Pulparazzi,” Jamestown Art Center, Jamestown, RI
• 2017 – “Win Win,” Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM 
• 2012 – “Dichotomies: 9 Artists Explore Pulp and Paper,” Convivium 33, Cleveland, OH
• 2010 – “Paper Moon,” Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ  
• 2007 – “Paper Awareness VII,” Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA 
• 2005 – “The Nature of Paper,” WOMANmade Gallery, Chicago, IL 
• 2004 – “Wish You were Here III,” A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY 
• 2001 – “Facing each other,” Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA 
• 1996 – “144 Square,” Erector Square Gallery, New Haven, CT 

Artwork from this Collection for sale

Below you’ll find several examples of Anne Q. McKeown’s artworks we offer. Please reach out to info@aferro.org to inquire about McKeown’s work for sale.

 

 

 

Gallery Aferro as curatorial liaison for Anne Q. McKeown

Gallery Aferro is proud to work with Anne Q. McKeown to help facilitate all research, purchases and exhibition services for her substantial body of work.

For art collectors, curators, scholars, educators, students and enthusiasts, you can now inquire with the gallery staff about McKeown’s artworks, as well as access catalogued images and information about her extensive collection of paintings, prints, and works on handmade paper.

To learn more about this curatorial relationship and how to review and purchase works by Anne Q. McKeown, please contact Gallery Manager Candace Nicholson at cnicholson@aferro.org.