Artists
Ann Getsinger's roots stretch from the deep south to the coast of Maine, and San Francisco, but at center are the Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts where she's lived full time since 1980.
Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, October 22, 1956, Ann grew up in then rural Watertown, beside a working dairy farm and miles of woods. The youngest of five, she was raised in an atmosphere of creative activity, to the explosive backdrop of the sixties, and with a closeness to nature and agriculture. Every spare moment was spent drawing or riding horses. She won the Art Award in Junior High and again in High School.
After first studying at Paier School of Art in New Haven, CT, she then moved to the Berkshires working as an illustrator and graphic designer before leaving to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1979. At that time San Francisco was experiencing the 'Punk' movement which overlapped with the remaining hippies, and was just before the awareness of the AIDS epidemic. She studied under abstract expressionist Hassel Smith and worked on an Alice Aycock installation. While on the west coast she traveled to the lagoons of central Baja, Mexico to witness the California grey whales' annual return.
In 1980 she came back to New England, living first in coastal Maine and then returning to the Berkshires. There she met and studied informally with representational artist Sheldon 'Shelly' Fink. Shelly introduced the young artist to the tradition of realism, the working methods, materials, and philosophical perspective- something she'd been hungry for. The two lived together, created a business, and formed a friendship which lasted until Shelly's death in 2002. (In the nineteen fifties Shelly Fink was a member of a group of realist painters in New York City which formed after World War Two, a group which went against the then current fashion of modernism, relating instead to the long line of realists which extended from Rembrandt, and Vermeer, through Sorolla, Kathe Kollwitz, and especially to Thomas Eakins. Among their group were David Levine, Harvey Dinnerstein, and Herbert Steinberg.)
In 1988 Ann Getsinger bought her home, which had previously been a laundry building on a once elegant turn-of -the-century estate, in the rural southern Berkshire 'hill town' of New Marlborough, MA. In the late 1970's the estate had been the home of fluxism founder George Maciunas, where he was visited by John Lennon and fluxist artist Yoko Ono. In 2002 Ann Getsinger designed and constructed a studio building just a few steps from her home. Its design, with three tall windows to the north, was inspired by the studio of late 19th- early 20th century sculptor Daniel Chester French in nearby Glendale, MA.
Beginning in childhood, a lifelong connection with the coast of Maine was forged, with summers spent at her family's cottage near Port Clyde. It was through the nearby Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine that Ann came to know and appreciate the work of many Maine artists, most notably the work of N.C. Wyeth, his son Andrew Wyeth, and Andrew's son Jamie Wyeth. The three generations, each remarkable in a distinctive way, have influenced her work significantly. She points out that she and N.C. have the same birthday.
Ann Getsinger is a generalist in her life and in her work. Her interests include antique prints, historical ephemera, and photography, decorative arts, as well as natural history- her many shells, bones, seedpods, and a horse skull- along with odd toys and decorative hats, fill her studio. She's a voracious reader of just about anything and cites Mad magazine as an early influence, noting especially the drawings of Don Martin. Some of Ann Getsinger's other artistic influences include the work of contemporary artists Julio Larraz and Walton Ford, as well as the late artists Gregory Gillespie, and friend and New Yorker cover artist Arthur Getz. The books in her library which rarely gather dust are those of Magritte, Botticelli, and Leonardo da Vinci.
Ann Getsinger's oil paintings, while rooted in traditional realism, have evolved to include layers drawn from surrealism, memory, and imagination. The artist draws from her many interests combining still life, landscape, figurative, and imaginative work, to create a distinct point of view, her own realism with a playful and serious twist.
Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, October 22, 1956, Ann grew up in then rural Watertown, beside a working dairy farm and miles of woods. The youngest of five, she was raised in an atmosphere of creative activity, to the explosive backdrop of the sixties, and with a closeness to nature and agriculture. Every spare moment was spent drawing or riding horses. She won the Art Award in Junior High and again in High School.
After first studying at Paier School of Art in New Haven, CT, she then moved to the Berkshires working as an illustrator and graphic designer before leaving to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1979. At that time San Francisco was experiencing the 'Punk' movement which overlapped with the remaining hippies, and was just before the awareness of the AIDS epidemic. She studied under abstract expressionist Hassel Smith and worked on an Alice Aycock installation. While on the west coast she traveled to the lagoons of central Baja, Mexico to witness the California grey whales' annual return.
In 1980 she came back to New England, living first in coastal Maine and then returning to the Berkshires. There she met and studied informally with representational artist Sheldon 'Shelly' Fink. Shelly introduced the young artist to the tradition of realism, the working methods, materials, and philosophical perspective- something she'd been hungry for. The two lived together, created a business, and formed a friendship which lasted until Shelly's death in 2002. (In the nineteen fifties Shelly Fink was a member of a group of realist painters in New York City which formed after World War Two, a group which went against the then current fashion of modernism, relating instead to the long line of realists which extended from Rembrandt, and Vermeer, through Sorolla, Kathe Kollwitz, and especially to Thomas Eakins. Among their group were David Levine, Harvey Dinnerstein, and Herbert Steinberg.)
In 1988 Ann Getsinger bought her home, which had previously been a laundry building on a once elegant turn-of -the-century estate, in the rural southern Berkshire 'hill town' of New Marlborough, MA. In the late 1970's the estate had been the home of fluxism founder George Maciunas, where he was visited by John Lennon and fluxist artist Yoko Ono. In 2002 Ann Getsinger designed and constructed a studio building just a few steps from her home. Its design, with three tall windows to the north, was inspired by the studio of late 19th- early 20th century sculptor Daniel Chester French in nearby Glendale, MA.
Beginning in childhood, a lifelong connection with the coast of Maine was forged, with summers spent at her family's cottage near Port Clyde. It was through the nearby Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine that Ann came to know and appreciate the work of many Maine artists, most notably the work of N.C. Wyeth, his son Andrew Wyeth, and Andrew's son Jamie Wyeth. The three generations, each remarkable in a distinctive way, have influenced her work significantly. She points out that she and N.C. have the same birthday.
Ann Getsinger is a generalist in her life and in her work. Her interests include antique prints, historical ephemera, and photography, decorative arts, as well as natural history- her many shells, bones, seedpods, and a horse skull- along with odd toys and decorative hats, fill her studio. She's a voracious reader of just about anything and cites Mad magazine as an early influence, noting especially the drawings of Don Martin. Some of Ann Getsinger's other artistic influences include the work of contemporary artists Julio Larraz and Walton Ford, as well as the late artists Gregory Gillespie, and friend and New Yorker cover artist Arthur Getz. The books in her library which rarely gather dust are those of Magritte, Botticelli, and Leonardo da Vinci.
Ann Getsinger's oil paintings, while rooted in traditional realism, have evolved to include layers drawn from surrealism, memory, and imagination. The artist draws from her many interests combining still life, landscape, figurative, and imaginative work, to create a distinct point of view, her own realism with a playful and serious twist.
