ANCA Artist Profile - A.G. Stokes (aka Ann Smith) painter   Contact: annsmith@goldweb.com.au 0431 106 939 Artists Statement A.G. Stokes graduated from the ANU School of Art as BA (Visual) Honours in 2005 having retired from the paid workforce and having, several times over, achieved the status of grandmother. She now practices as a landscape painter and printmaker. Stokes is interested in landscape, not only from the point of view of what man has made of nature (to quote the British landscapist Adrian Berg), but also in the way landscape can be used as a metaphor for the human state of mind. This state of mind may reflect a personal attachment to, or fear of, a particular place; it may also represent a mood engendered by the uncertainties of contemporary life within our global village.  Stokes is currently investigating anomalies in the landscape, 'unnatural' forms which result from the ravages of fire, flood, storm and disease, or which are the consequences of attempts by man to improve life by harnessing or regulating natural forces - a sort of 'collateral damage'.  In 2009 she completed a series of works inspired by the suburban garden. Prior to that her main focus was on the farmland and riverland around Kialla in the Victorian Goulburn Valley. In these paintings she tempered the flatness of the landscape  with the intimacy of homestead and a sense of belonging. Curriculum Vitae Art Education:  2005 BA(Visual) Honours, Australian National University 1999-2001 Evening classes in painting and drawing, Open Art Program, Australian National University Forthcoming Exhibitions: 2010 Down but not out: casualties in the landscape, ANCA Gallery, ACT Solo Exhibitions: 2009 Lithographs, The Gods Cafe and Bar, ANU, ACT 2009 Garden: renewal of spirit, Megalo Print Studio + Gallery, ACT 2009 The home paddock and beyond, ANCA Gallery, ACT Group Exhibitions:   2009 Printworks '09, Megalo Print Studio + Gallery, ACT 2009 Engaging Visions a Benalla field study, Benalla Art Gallery, Victoria 2009 Signatures, ANCA Gallery, ACT 2009 Dog of a show, Megalo Print Studio + Gallery, ACT 2009 Riverland, The McCormick Centre for the Environment, Renmark, SA 2008 Tumut: An Exhibition of Visual Art, Tumut Art Society Gallery and Ex-State Bank Building, Tumut, NSW 2008 Weereewa Works on Paper Prize, Bungendore Woodworks Gallery, Bungendore, NSW 2008 Weereewa Print, Collector Gallery, Collector, NSW 2008 Weereewa Print, Megalo Print Studio and Gallery, ACT  2007  new work 7: megalo members exhibition, Megalo Print Studio and Gallery, ACT 2007 Intimacy: Miniatures by ANCA studio tenants, ANCA Gallery ACT 2006  Shepp.The Earth Shepparton Art Gallery, Shepparton, Victoria 2006  Sixty-five Roses, ANU School of Art Foyer Gallery 2006  picture this: anu school of art painting alumni 2000-6, 2005 Honours Graduates, ANU School of Art Foyer Gallery 2005  Graduate Exhibition 2005, ANU School of Art Gallery 2005  You Can’t Do This on Television, The Front, Lyneham 2005  Common Ground School of Art Foyer Gallery, Canberra 2005  Q 25K, The Artists Shed, Queanbeyan 2004  Common Ground, Gunnedah 2003  Shoalhaven, The Criterion, Braidwood Awards:  The EASS John and Elizabeth Baker Aquisition Award 2005 The EASS Aquisition and Loan Collection Aquisition 2005 Collections:  EASS (Emerging Artists Support Scheme) collection John and Elizabeth Baker collection Murray Darling Basin Commission collection Private collections: Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne Previous Education:   1996  Master of Information Technology, University of Canberra 1990  Graduate Diploma in Computing Studies, University of Canberra 1974  Graduate Diploma in Librarianship, University of Canberra 1970  M.A. (first class honours), University of Melbourne 1965  B.A. (honours), University of Melbourne; Margaret Kiddle Prize in History Previous Experience:  1990-2002 IT career (programming, database management, systems analysis and design) 1977-1989 Research officer, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University 1965-1976 Library and archival work Publications:    HG Gibbney and AG Smith,  A Biographical Register: Notes from the name index of the Australian Dictionary of Biography (2 vols, Canberra, 1987) Various articles in the Australian Dictionary of Biography IMAGES: 1. A G Stokes, Hidden Pathway, 2008. Oil on canvas. 50.8cm x 50.8cm. 2. A G Stokes, Blue Garden, 2008. Oil on canvas. 95cm x 95cm. 3. A G Stokes, Meeting at Waranga Basin, 2009. Oil on canvas.