Multimedia Australian artist, Anna Glynn engages in painting, drawing, sculpture, writing, music, sound, installation and theatre. Her art investigates the connection to the land and the memories and stories that resonate within a place. An example of this work from her Bundanon, Shoalhaven Stories series is her painting ‘The Brave Hunter’ which was selected as an iconic Australian image to feature on the front cover of the most recent “A Concise History of Australia” – Cambridge University Press by Stuart Macintyre.
Since 2006 Glynn has travelled to China every year for exhibitions, residencies and projects focusing on cultural exchange and collaborations within Asia. In 2008 she began to develop new works that fuse Chinese traditional ink painting techniques with a Western aesthetic, to create a new contemporary style. During her time in China she developed this innovative genre that utilises the natural character of the Chinese materials.
In 2013 she was a finalist in the 'Australian Art in Asia Awards’ for her Hidden Worlds Exhibition in Beijing, China: Categories: Visual Arts and Individual. This exhibition was included by the Australian Embassy, Beijing as part of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Australia-China diplomatic relations. Also in 2013 she was awarded Artist-in-Residence, Department of Visual Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong undertaking research, lecturing, developing new works and mounting an exhibition at the University. She was also invited to have a solo exhibition Tsi Ku Chai Gallery, Hong Kong – the first foreign artist to be invited to exhibit in the forty year history of this gallery that works closely with the precious cultural heritage of the Chinese nation. Also in 2013 she was awarded artist in residence at Kunstnarhuset Messen in Norway.
Anna Glynn began her arts practice in the mid 1980s in Melbourne, before moving to Sydney and then to the Shoalhaven region in 1989. In 1993 she worked for 12 months with Australian artist Arthur Boyd, an experience that dramatically changed her attitude towards art and prompted the development of a new love for oil painting and printmaking. An exhibition of her paintings was held at “Riversdale”, part of the Bundanon Trust, at the invitation of Boyd.
Glynn’s earlier works were across a number of media including silk, sculpture and textiles. In 1988 & 1990 her work was selected for the Tamworth National Fibre Exhibition where it was collected by the gallery and formed part of a touring exhibition. In 1991 her work formed part of an international exhibition to the Kyoto Museum in Japan.
In 1995 Glynn spent the year working with rural and isolated communities, collecting stories that related to the droving routes of her Irish great grandfather. The series of paintings that resulted from this research became a touring exhibition in 1997 called 'Landscapes and Lives’ which travelled to The Australian Museum, Sydney; Dubbo Regional Gallery; Broken Hill City Art Gallery and the Mildura Arts Centre.
She was selected for the 1996 & 1997 Outback Art Prize at Broken Hill City Art Gallery and her work was also selected for the 1997 Conrad Jupiter’s Art Prize at Gold Coast City Gallery. In 1997 she was awarded a Broken Hill City Art Gallery Artist in Residence.
In 1998 Glynn received an International Women’s Day Award for her contribution to 'Women, Art & the Community’. The following year she was invited to create a work for the charity Jeans for Genes and painted images from Barbara Blackman’s “Certain Chairs”.
Glynn was awarded the 2000 Shoalhaven Arts Board Millennium Sculpture commission creating Shoalhaven Stories, three glazed ceramic obelisks. As part of the commission Glynn spent extensive time on research and worked with the local community to gather local stories. It was also in 2000 that Glynn was Artist in Residence at “Bundanon”, NSW. Glynn’s Shoalhaven Stories project then continued in 2012 and 2013 when she was commissioned by the Shoalhaven City Council to ”As an artist, I have Glynn has always been captivated by stories and storytelling. Her Shoalhaven Stories series began in the 1990s and reflects her lifelong interest in narrative works and in expressing the essence of ‘place’. During her time living here she has been observing and gathering stories – both her own and those from other people in the community. In 2012/2013 she was commissioned by the Shoalhaven City Council through a Your Community Heritage Program Grant from the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities to collect and express this rich historical collection.
The 'Strange Memories’ project began in 2002 when Glynn was the Parks Victoria “Longridge” Artist in Residence, at a spot located adjacent to her childhood family property on the Yarra River at Warrandyte. Later that year she exhibited the work at Montsalvat in Eltham, which included her original music. Glynn was then invited by the Melbourne publisher JoJo Publishing to create a book based on these works and in 2006 Strange Memories, the book of her paintings and writing, was published. Glynn also created a 65 minute artist’s film of the project as well as recording a CD of her original music and live theatre performances based on all of the material. In 2006 Strange Memories was selected for the Merrigong Theatre Development Program at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre in Wollongong.
The Australian Trade Commission invited Glynn to be part of the first Australian Pavilion at the Shanghai Art Fair in 2006 & 2007, which then led to various exhibition invitations from curators in China. Her focus from 2006 was on international exhibitions: USA, Canada, Korea & primarily China, where she has developed ongoing artistic relationships with a number of Chinese curators and artists.
In 2007 Glynn represented Australia in an international art exhibition titled 'Being’ at the Zhu QiZhan Art Museum in Shanghai, China. The exhibition theme 'Being’ looked at the importance of the environment. She also presented a Strange Memories multi-media work collaborating with a local performer where narration was alternated in English and Mandarin.
Glynn’s project Parallel Dreams was based on her collaboration with contemporary Chinese artist Wu GuoWei. The two female regional artists continue to work together to extend the unique relationship between their art across their different cultures. In 2008 Glynn was awarded two artist residencies: an Australia China Council Residency to travel to Liaoning Province and another at 'Laughing Waters’ / Nillumbik / Parks Victoria spending time with Wu GuoWei working together. The 'Parallel Dreams’ exhibition was shown in Australia in 2010 and to Peking University, Centennial Hall, Beijing, China in 2011.
Glynn was awarded an artist-in-residence by the City of Antibes – France in 2010 to spend three months creating new multimedia works and was honoured to be the first Australian artist invited to be part of the program.
She was also awarded a 2010 Laughing Waters Artist in Residence in Melbourne with theatre director Anne-Louise Rentell to work on the development of a new Australian contemporary theatre work – 'Digging a Hole to China’ – a unique site-specific performance in the Australian landscape.
Glynn’s short films and digital video artworks have won the Meroogal Women’s Art Prize in 2009 and in 2010 her short film The Traveller’ was shown at various international film festivals and was winner in Animation at the International Film Festival Ireland.
In 2011 Glynn was artist in residence at the 24HR Art – International Studio Residency Program at Huantie Art City, Beijing. This is a program through a new partnership between 24HR Art – Northern Territory Centre for Contemporary Art and Asialink giving international professional development opportunities to artists from regional and remote areas. She was supported in this residency by the NSW Government through Arts NSW.
Glynn’s Yarra River Stories sound piece was played in 2011 on ABC Radio National 360 Documentaries. This was made up of a half hour program with her writing, sound and music recordings.
Her animation work was included in Flight and Flow, the slideshow the ABC Pool and 360 documentaries team created from the Birdland and Rivers Projects and showed in Federation Square in 2011.
Her two digital video artworks 'The Traveller’ and 'Seven Dreams’ were chosen as the first works to launch at SCOPE: the Albury City curated Digital Art Outdoor Gallery in 2011 where the QEII Square was transformed into a digital outdoor gallery.
In 2012 Glynn was awarded an Avian Kingdom artist in residence in Sweden through ARNA. The Avian Kingdom is to become a UNESCO biosphere area. Michael Shirrefs from ABC Radio National created a half hour program for Weekend Arts interviewing Glynn and her scientist partner Peter Dalmazzo about their experiences. Glynn created a video work called ‘The Lost Swans & the Avian Kingdom’ as a result of this residency where she collaborated with Swedish contemporary artists and the Swedish composer Mats Edén.
In 2012 her solo exhibition Hidden Worlds was at Harmony Space Art Gallery, Huantie Art City, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China. The exhibition was included as part of the official celebration of the 40th anniversary of Australia-China diplomatic relations in 2012.
In 2012 she spent time developing new practical skills and undertaking research at the IARB Where Where Curatorial Collective in Beijing, China. Her area of study was new interpretations using traditional Chinese ink and wash painting techniques and exploring innovative approaches with these traditional materials especially through video and sound.
A major retrospective of her work, ‘Shoalhaven Stories’ was held in 2012 at the Main Gallery Shoalhaven City Arts Centre. The Shoalhaven Stories series reflects her interest in how history and truth is created and interpreted. Where is the line between a tall tale and historical fact? Where do storytelling, myth and folklore depart from historical ‘fact’?
- Writers:
- Glynn, Anna
- Date written:
- 2008
- Last updated:
- 2013
