Autobiography/Artist Statement

Anne Havard

I was born and raised in Smithers, B.C. I am apparently fairly driven, and after finishing high-school in the Bulkley Valley, I worked hard to discover what I wanted to do with my life, returning five times to various educational institutions, acquiring way too many years of "interdisciplinary" post-secondary education and training before discovering the artist in myself - at the age of 30.

When I finally realized, in 1985, that what I wanted 'to do with my life' was paint, I took to it with a vengeance and went to live in Atlin, a small hamlet in Northern B.C., with another talented, seasoned artist - for nine cold but rewarding winter months. But not being able to afford to live there long term, I returned to Smithers that spring, determined to make art my career path - and have not looked back since.

My inspiration comes mostly from the natural environment around me, and when I first started painting, my work was fairly realistic. But as time passes, my work becomes more and more removed from realism as I play with color and composition while exploring design, pattern, texture, mood, and movement. And every time I start a new piece I try to be disciplined about experimenting with something new to keep me inspired and challenged. I never really know from one painting to the next what sort of image I’ll end up creating, and I've learned to let my intuition and the creative process lead me.

In 2001, needing better employment, my family moved to Lethbridge, Alberta, where I taught art classes, painted the prairie desert part-time, and worked as a house-keeper for my 'day-job', exhibiting my work in nearby Waterton Park. But after seven years in Alberta, with my son pretty much independent, and having acquired a dislike for the extreme climate there, my yen for B.C. took over, and I returned to Smithers, partially to care for my aging parents. With chronic health problems beginning to plague me, though, the winters were difficult to tolerate, so I once again left my beautiful hometown to buy a wonderful home-based studio (my second 'Red Door') on Gabriola, and commenced to capture, on paper and in watercolor, this special place, which I'm falling in love with! I've been busy painting since I got here in June of 2013, and the results can be seen on the walls here.

I’ve been painting for almost thirty years now. For two years running, my art was chosen to represent the Northwest Zone of British Columbia in “Objects and Images”, an annual Province-wide juried art exhibition – first in Penticton, and then Prince George, B.C. I have had eight solo-exhibitions in the Smithers area, and exhibited my work all over Northwestern B.C, in Vancouver, and in Lethbridge. My works are in private collections far and wide, and I love stumbling unexpectedly on one of my forgotten 'friends'. I did a recent count of my images, and the grand total came to over 350... I was impressed!

I am constantly driven to create, mostly using paper, color, composition, pattern, texture, and design,