The Energy of Landscapes: An Interview with Fine Artist Anne Corlett

June 7, 2024

Art

Nesha Ruther

Writer at Bond & Grace

Looking at one of Anne Corlett’s landscape paintings is like stepping into summer vacation: sand dunes undulate against a backdrop of sky and water, pine trees lean lazily into the breeze, and opal-colored clouds drift happily past.

Painted in her studio in West Michigan, and deeply rooted in the energy and locality of her home, Anne’s artwork is a testament to the emotional impact the landscapes we love can have on us.

Anne grew up in a family of artists. Both her grandmothers were accomplished painters, letting her know from an early age that a career in the arts was possible. She took art classes in high school before getting a BS in Fine Art. After graduating, Anne moved back to her hometown of Chicago, specifically to the Pilsen neighborhood on the Lower West Side, which was known for being a popular spot for artists in the ‘80s.

“I made a network of friends who were all doing art professionally and it was great because I saw I could do it too,” Anne says fondly. While working as a waitress, she built a business selling watercolor house portraits.

When she got married she moved to West Michigan and continued to paint while raising her kids. When her kids were old enough to go to school, she took classes at the Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, Michigan. “I was in my late 30s when I went back to Art School, but it really lit my fire again.” Soon after graduating from Ox-Bow, Anne got into her first of many galleries, and while she and her first husband ultimately got divorced, she continued growing her artistic career.

In addition to showing her art, she worked at Water Street Gallery in Douglas, Michigan. This experience proved critical to Anne learning the behind-the-scenes aspects of the art world, which are just as important as brush technique and use of color. “I learned accounting, how to keep track of my work, how to ship paintings, and how to do PR,” she says.

“After working there for a number of years I thought ‘If I can do this for other artists I can do it for myself.’” Since that moment, Anne has successfully represented herself as a working artist.

Anne’s divorce was a turning point not only for her artistic career but her practice as well. “I had done pastels for ten years, but after getting divorced I moved my studio back into my home and I didn’t want to get pastel dust all over the house,” she says. “I also really wanted to try a new medium, so I began doing oil painting.”

This transition is not as simple as it may initially seem; oil paint is an extremely fickle medium that requires high levels of technical skill.

“I think of it like instruments. If you can read music and play the piano, it doesn't mean you can suddenly pick up the flute, so switching from pastels to oil paint was a big deal for me,” she says.

Anne remarried, and after the passing of her mom, was able to get a separate studio outside of her home. She regularly welcomes scheduled visitors who can tour the space and explore the stunning landscape paintings visible on the wall behind her as we speak.

“I want to get a stop light to put outside of my studio so that people know when it’s green, they can come in, but when it's red, don’t even knock, because I’ll be pissed,” she laughs.

Through changes in her life, her medium, and her studio space, one thing has remained constant, Anne’s abiding love for landscapes. This relationship with nature was strengthened by many years of painting en plein air, the practice of painting outdoors, and capturing the transient nature of the light and color of an environment.

“When you’re outside, you feel the energy of where you are,” Anne says. “Michigan in particular, the land has a very strong presence, and you can feel the timelessness of it when you’re standing on a sand dune and trying to capture what’s around you.”

The energy of Anne’s home is not only a feeling but backed by a vibrant history. In Saugatuck, Michigan, at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River lies the buried remains of a 19th-century town called Singapore. It was a logging town, and when the Chicago fire destroyed vast swaths of the city in 1871, the wood to rebuild came from Singapore. “It’s the only river mouth in West Michigan that isn’t developed,” Anne says. “It’s former Native American land and has this rich history. By painting local landscapes, I feel like I’m raising awareness on some level and celebrating the beauty of the place.”

Anne’s love of the outdoors is not limited to Michigan, however. A number of years back she traveled around the country and did a landscape in every single state. “I took 15 trips over three and a half years and then I did a big exhibit and published a book of all the artwork,” she says.

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“When you paint outdoors, you get the energy of the clouds, the sun, the wind, and the soundscape. All of that goes into the work. I think plein air is the most exciting way to paint.”

Since then, Anne has had some health issues that unfortunately prohibit her from painting outdoors, but she eagerly awaits the day she can get back to it.

“I feel like I tap into the energy of the landscape when I’m painting and it informs my work. You try to let go of conscious thought, and that’s not easy, but when it’s happening I feel like I am channeling the energy of the land, an energy that goes all the way back in time and all the way forward.”

New challenges pose themselves for Anne when she is painting in her studio versus painting en plein air. “[In the studio] I have to battle myself to keep it fresh,” she says. “When you’re outside, you have limited time, the light is changing, you have all these external factors that make it more difficult but also really immediate,” she says. “I have to work on pushing myself out of my comfort zone because as soon as you get comfortable, the work is just not as good. You’re not striving. It's easy to make a product, it’s difficult to make art. And I’m not saying I never make products, I have small affordable work that people can buy that I make with selling in mind, but for me, these paintings are not doing the same thing as the other work.”

Despite painting indoors for the time being, Anne’s artwork is highly influenced by her environment, beginning as a photograph she will take, often while going on walks with her dog, and then becoming a sketch and finally a painting.

It is those habits of meaningfully engaging with nature that have proven critical to Anne’s practice. After all, when you see the world with an artist's eye, anything can be art. “I have a good friend who said that ‘just by looking, you are working’ and I brought that into my practice,” Anne says. “I’m very drawn to trees, for example.It is those habits of meaningfully engaging with nature that have proven critical to Anne’s practice. After all, when you see the world with an artist's eye, anything can be art. “I have a good friend who said that ‘just by looking, you are working’ and I brought that into my practice,” Anne says. “I’m very drawn to trees, for example. I think because they have this history that we as humans don’t understand. They’ve got their toes down so deep and they know things that we will never know. The white pine is really prevalent here, so I paint that a lot. I call them tree portraits because every one is different. I love painting clouds, so I really study them. If I see an amazing bank of clouds and get the feeling like ‘I have to paint that,’ I’ll look at them and try to experience them.”

Anne’s love of clouds comes through clearly in her Frankenstein Collection with Cloud Solace. A simple yet vibrant composition that captures the texture and layers of the clouds, a bright Azure background contrasts with the ethereal white fluff of the clouds themselves. “That work was very natural for me since I had been painting clouds since COVID. I was so excited when I found the part in Frankenstein where Victor is ruminating on the clouds,” Anne says.

“Healing Light was a challenge, I don't normally paint flowers and I had no idea how it would come out. With the yellow flowers in the foreground and the peaks in the back, they form a diagonal against one another in a way that is compositionally challenging,” Anne says.

Not all of Anne’s pieces are so serene, however. This is Frankenstein, after all. “I can’t say I have a favorite because they all have their own challenges,” Anne says.

“But I loved painting No Good Choice. Victor is going through a personal dilemma and the rocks and the ocean reflect how difficult it is.”

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No Good Choice references a moment in the text that takes place in the Orkney Islands in Scotland, which Anne and her husband will be visiting over the summer. She is, of course, bringing her paintbrushes.

“The cool thing about the Frankenstein Art Novel is that I was not tapping into my own passion for my local landscape, I tapped into the book’s passion. I have never done a project like this and I loved it because it took me to another place and time. I could adopt the feat and angst of the characters and that’s what fed the work,” Anne says.

Shop Anne’s full collection, Available Now

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