Ann Kipling L.L.D (1934 August30, 2023) was a Canadian artist who created impressionistic portraits and landscapes in drawings and prints on paper from direct observation. Kipling's distinctive style of overlapping, temporally suggestive linework was formed through her working process, which involved drawing her subject over time, recording subtle shifts in movement in the sitter or landscape during that period. Her work is characterized by a flat sense of space, where lines are used to frame a vibrating and gestural idea of her subject, rather than a direct representation of form. While not directly connected to any art movement in particular, connections can be made to Chinese landscape painters and the watercolours of

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...

. Using colour minimally, her primary media was etching, drawing, watercolours, pen, pencil, pastels and pencil crayons. She lived and worked in Falkland, BC, a location which serves as a focus for her landscapes.

Early life and education

From 1955 to 1960 Kipling studied at the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University of Art and Design). She studied with Jan Zack,

Herbert Siebner Herbert Johannes Josef Siebner (April 16, 1925 – August 3, 2003) was born in Stettin, Prussia, and died in Victoria, Canada. Siebner was an Expressionist painter, printmaker, and sculptor. Siebner studied graphic arts under Max E. A. Richter ...

, and Rudy Kovak before gaining her footing as an artist in the 1960s-70s, most notably with her first solo show at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1971. In the 1960s she moved to the

Lynn Valley Lynn Valley is a neighbourhood in the District of North Vancouver, British Columbia. Located at the northern edge of Metro Vancouver, it sits between Mount Fromme and Mount Seymour. The area's natural parks include Lynn Headwaters Regional Park, ...

where she lived and worked for a number of years. During this period her interest in depictions of natural phenomenon grew, and she began developing her individual style which involved working in extended sessions for her plein air landscapes and sittings with models for portraiture.

Later work

Kipling described her practice as follows, "When I am drawing from the figure or the landscape, I am fascinated by the change, movement, energy and transformation of form in a seemingly static situation" (Ann Kipling, 2003, ''For the Record, Drawing Contemporary Life''). She showned regularly in group and solo shows in Canada from the 1970s to the present day. In 2009 she made 141 drawings, mostly of the mountains around Falkland, BC, which were the focus of her 2011 exhibition at th
Burnaby Art Gallery
(Burnaby, BC), ''The Solitudes of Place: Recent Drawings'' by Ann Kipling. Her common tools of the trade are a drawing board, graphite, coloured pencils, pens and BFK Rives paper. Her works are commonly titled based on the day they are made, rather than the location, creating a sense of chronological unfolding or journaling in her oeuvre. She has works in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Canada, The Burnaby Art Gallery, the

Audain Art Museum The Audain Art Museum is a 56,000-square-foot private museum located in Whistler, British Columbia, housing the private art collection of Michael Audain. Designed by Patkau Architects and opened to the public in 2016, it holds a comprehensive perm ...

and in private and public collections across the nation. In 1995, she had a

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

at the Vancouver Art Gallery. In 2004 she was the first recipient of the Audain Prize (named after

Michael Audain Michael James Audain, (born July 31, 1937) is a Canadian home builder, philanthropist and art collector. He is the Chairman and major shareholder of the privately held Polygon Homes Ltd., one of the largest multi-family builders in British Colu ...

). In 2017 her work was included in the exhibition, ''The Ornament of a House: Fifty Years of Collecting'' at the Burnaby Art Gallery.

Personal life

In 1961 Kipling married German-Canadian sculptor Leonhard Epp (1932-2018). She has lived in Sunshine Falls, BC and Falkland, BC. She was a dedicated Tai Chi and yoga practitioner.

Selected solo exhibitions

Kipling has had many solo exhibitions, among them the following: *2014 Ann Kipling: The Falkland Drawings: a thirty-five-year survey, Kelowna Art Gallery (Kelowna, BC) *2011 The Solitudes of Place: Recent Drawings by Ann Kipling, Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby, BC *2000 Ann Kipling: Prints (traveling show), Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops, BC *Ann Kipling: Prints & Drawings, Vernon Art Gallery, Vernon, BC *Ann Kipling: Prints, 1958–67 (travelling show), Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops, BC *1995 Ann Kipling (travelling show), Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver *1991 Three Decades: Ann Kipling, Vernon Art Gallery, Vernon, BC *1987 Ann Kipling (show of portraits), Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC, toured to Vancouver Art Gallery and the Kelowna Art Gallery *1982 Ann Kipling: Prints (travelling show), Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC *1980 Ann Kipling: Recent Landscapes (travelling show), Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC *1976 Ann Kipling (travelling show), Vancouver Art Gallery, BC *1971 Drawings by Ann Kipling (travelling show), Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver

Awards

*2008 Honorary Doctorate, Emily Carr University, Vancouver *2004

Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts The Audain Prize for the Visual Arts (Audain Prize) is an annual award that recognizes a distinguished Canadian artist. Worth $100,000, it is one of Canada's most significant honours for the arts. The prize is supported by the Audain Foundation and ...

* numerous Canada Council Grants, including the

Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award The Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award is a monetary award given since 1971 by the Canada Council for the Arts to Canadian artists judged to be outstanding in their mid-careers. Since 2005, the award is given to one recipient in each of the followi ...

in 1987 *1993 Project Assistance for Visual Arts, BC Cultural Services grant *1960 and 1964 Koerner Foundation grant *Emily Carr Scholarship *Vancouver School of Art Travel Scholarship

External links

Douglas Udell Gallery

References

1934 births 2023 deaths Artists from Victoria, British Columbia Emily Carr University of Art and Design alumni 20th-century Canadian women artists 21st-century Canadian women artists