This week’s featured artist: Anna Fine Foer, member since 1997:
ME: I decided I was going to be an artist when I was 11 years old, living in Paris for the summer, visiting every museum and gallery. While a fibers/crafts major at Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts) I became fascinated by the relationship between maps and the land they represent, embarking on a lifelong interest in maps and collage. After emigrating to Israel, I worked as a textile conservator in Haifa and Tel-Aviv. I studied at the Textile Conservation Centre, Courtauld Institute in London, receiving a Post-Graduate Diploma in Textile Conservation. I now live in Annapolis with my two sons. My work has appeared at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Maryland Governor’s Mansion, and the Israeli Embassy and is in the permanent collection of the Haifa Museum of Art and the Beer-Sheva Biblical Museum. I received a prize for the Encouragement of Young Artists for work exhibited in the Artist’s House in Jerusalem, and a Maryland State Arts Council grant for Individual Artists in 2008.
Einstein Thought Experiment in Central Park
MY ART: My artwork is map collage that offers the viewer a combination of imaginary landscapes with mystical, biblical, scientific. political and ecological themes. Maps that I incorporate into collages can be parts of regional, geographic, geological or religious narratives. Just as there is more than one story a map can convey, my work has more than one story to tell. I am doing two things: describing the curve of the earth on a flat piece of paper, and using maps to blur boundaries between the natural and the manufactured/technological world, representing simultaneously land, sky, water and architecture. Visit my website: http://www.annafineart.com.
MFA & ME: I remember celebrating when my first work was accepted into an MFA juried exhibition early in my membership. I am still encouraged when my work is accepted into juried exhibitions such as Art on Paper and American Landscapes. MFA is the only gallery in Annapolis that exhibits work based on its merit and excellence, not sale-ability. Since my work is conceptual/idea driven, and not the traditional kind of work one expects to see in Annapolis, that is crucial.
MFA supports artists at all stages in their career, and I encourage new members and all artists to continue to submit work to juried exhibitions; to strive for the next level.
I volunteer at MFA’s Annual Collector’s Choice fundraiser, and I blog about some of the juried exhibitions for the prestigious blog BmoreArt, which helps put the MFA on the “map” of the Baltimore art scene, raising the bar for exhibiting artists.
Spread the word about…YOU: Every week, we feature an MFA member for “Me & My Art Monday.” If you would like to be featured, please submit a photo and three paragraphs: one each about YOU, YOUR ART, and MFA & YOU totaling approximately 350 words, to meandmyart@mdfedart.org.
