Anne Meredith Terpstra

Expressionist Painter

ANNE MEREDITH TERPSTRA

Web: AnneTerpstra.com  IG: @annemterpstra

ARTIST STATEMENT

My current work in oil painting is rooted in abstract expressionist traditions and is influenced by my background in printmaking. This inspires attention to layering and a subtractive connection to the medium. I investigate movement, evanescence, and resilience in my process. For me, creating art is a revolt, a kind of rebellion against the transitory nature of life. I am inspired by the tactility of the paint itself; starting with more paint than a palette knife or brush can comfortably hold, I create a challenge which demands a physical response to the materials themselves. 

Themes of depth and transience found in nature are always close at hand. I draw abstractly from my memory of natural landscapes, the ocean, and the experience of the play of light in these environments. When painting, I connect with the freedom and abandon I feel when immersed in the natural world. I employ color in a way that reflects my own emotional states and also, at times, centers on the idea of the individual feeling removed or disconnected from the natural world.

I achieve a sense of depth through the printmaking tools, the undulating light and dark waves of paint color, and the layered brush work under and over the botanical carvings. These attributes lend a photographic quality to the paintings, one that evokes movement and a clarity that has been intentionally obscured, as if the images are being dissolved or have just emerged to the surface.

BIO 

Anne Terpstra is an abstract painter, printmaker and photographer based in San Francisco’s Mission district. A San Francisco native, she earned her Bachelors in Studio Art from San Francisco State University where she studied printmaking, photography, exhibition design, and cinema studies. 

Anne exhibits her art in a wide variety of venues in San Francisco. Some recent venues include: Gallery 60SIX, Chung24 Gallery, Kneedler Fauchére, and Gamble + Design. Anne’s work in printmaking and photography has been published on a number of CD packages by the internationally recognized jazz and world music label, Adventure Music, New York. Her recent work in cyanotype has been featured at Chung24 Gallery and on the cover of “Vignette,” a duet album by bassist and composer Viktor Krauss, and harpist Maeve Gilchrist.