Ann Gargotto is an accomplished oil painter, perhaps best known for her floral and still life paintings. She describes her paintings as “representational but interpreted with sensitivity, emotion and originality.” Ann strives to communicate her intense connection with her subject matter, often working for many weeks – or even months – to take a painting to its completion. Ann grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She initially became immersed in art in high school, winning the school’s highest awards. During those formative years she also attended the Sausalito Art Center, where she studied with seasoned San Francisco artists, and learned the foundations involved with oil painting. In 2007 Ann met Quang Ho, whom she credits with developing the fundamentals and principles of her artistic understanding. She has since studied with many nationally recognized oil painters such as Kevin Weckbach, Ron Hicks, Andrea Kemp and Michelle Torrez. In 2011 Ann was recognized by Southwest Art Magazine as “Artist to Watch”. Since then she has been accepted into many prestigious juried shows, among them the Oil Painters of America National and Regional Exhibitions, The Governor’s Show and Windows to the Divine. Ann has won numerous awards and is in private collections throughout the country. She strongly believes in participating in community events and mentoring fellow artists as a way of giving back to the artist community. Ann currently resides and paints in Denver, Colorado. 

Artist Statement

My Art is symbolic and ambiguous not to confuse you or lead you down a predetermined destination. I avoid the voices of clarity for its value remains in its mystery. Many of my paintings in this exhibition are represented by a female figure, she symbolizes and represents the human desire for validation and acceptance. She stands her arms frozen as though the sculpture has not yet freed them from the stone, she waits for validation and the freedom to express her full self… her magic, her mystery.

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Biography

Highly acclaimed American Expressionist Dan McCaw was raised in the mining town of Butte, Montana, where he began sketching and drawing at an early age. While his sensitive figural work is deeply rooted in the romantic impressionist tradition, recent years have seen him moving toward a more individual expressionist tradition.  A skilled and discerning interpreter of color harmonies, light and mood, the core of McCaw’s work is based on expressing feeling and emotions with the fewest elements, that less is more. “My primary interest lies in going beyond the technique in order to interpret the subject in different ways and expand on that interpretation to make a personal statement. Creativity lies in uncertainty because your solution can be anything!”(Gallery 1261 Interview).

Described as an artist at the forefront of bridging representational art with contemporary sensibilities, Dan began his formal art training with a scholarship to the San Francisco Academy of Art followed by studies at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and the Bongart School of Art in Santa Monica.  He subsequently taught at the College of Art & Design for 17 years and in 2007 was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

Throughout his 40-year career, he has had more than 50 solo exhibitions. His work has also been shown in museum group exhibitions at the Long Beach Museum, the California Museum of Fine Art, Lancaster Museum, Madden Museum, CM Russell Museum as well as numerous prestigious invitational exhibitions including the OFA Invitational in London, the American Art Invitational, Salon D’Arts, the American Heritage Invitational in Houston, the Anne Irwin Invitational in Atlanta, the Gladney Foundation Invitational in Houston, the Biltmore Invitational in LA, and the Society of American Impressionists Invitational in Scottsdale.

McCaw has been the subject of feature articles in Art Voices South (1979), Southwest Art (1983, 1993 and 2011), Western Art Digest (1985), International Fine Art Collector (1992) and Island Scene Magazine (1996). Most recently, Dan completed a book entitled “A Proven Strategy for Creating Great Art” (2002). His work may be found in many national and international, private and corporate collections.