Art

Anna O. Dixon is a Visual Artist and Fine Art Graduate of The Centre for Creative Arts and Media @ Atlantic University, Galway. #artannao

Medium: Painting and Mixed Media

Anna O. Dixon is a Fine Art graduate from Galway, West of Ireland. She was born in London with Irish and Swedish parentage but has been living in Co. Mayo since 2005. Anna spent many years living in The Burren, Co. Clare and some years in Dalarna, Sweden where she developed a love of landscape painting. She now works from her home based studio at Ahena Organic Farm, a few miles from Claremorris where she lives with her husband and three dogs, her children still returning at weekends from college.

Anna has recently retired from 30 years working in the area of natural medicine and is now devoting her time in pursuance of her personal passion in the creative arts, especially in painting. She is also interested in the study of creativity itself as a profound source of natural therapy and works part-time facilitating art projects with Social Farming Ireland (SoFI). She also collaborates on projects with Claremorris Visual Arts Community (CVAC).

Anna is primarily a visual artist but is also a craft maker and writer. Her work is held in many private collections both nationally and internationally.

Anna is currently chairperson (previously secretary) of Claremorris Visual Arts Community (CVAC) since its conception in 2015 and regularly exhibits locally and nationally with the other members.

Hosts a weekly pod for creative development modelled on The Artists Way programme since early 2020.

Current and Recent Exhibitions

September 2022: Clifden Arts Festival, A selected group exhibition. Clifden, Co. Galway.

June & July 2022: ‘Ennistymon Courthouse Art Centre ‘, Summer Show, A curated and selected group exhibition. Ennistymon, Co. Clare.

July & August 2021: ‘Intricate Weaves’, Group exhibition with Claremorris Visual Arts Community CVAC, in ‘Tuar Ard’ Arts Centre, Moate, Co. Westmeath.

September 2021: ‘Intricate Weaves’ Claremorris Townhall Gallery, Co. Mayo

‘The Kenyan Art Project’ December 2021: Fundraiser Exhibition for ‘Protect The Children of Kenya’. Response to an arts in residence teaching/research project done in Kitui, Kenya in Jan-Feb 2020 with fellow artist Norah Brennan. Claremorris Townhall Gallery, Co. Mayo.

April 2022: ‘Intricate Weaves’, Bellmullet Arts Centre, Co. Mayo.

Artist Statement 

Updated 2022: I work on canvas, wood and paper using a variety of painting and drawing techniques from traditional oil painting to mixed-media, grafite, ink, acrylic, water colour and raw colour pigments.

My main focus is drawn to the timeless qualities found in nature. The process of painting itself feels like an intensive but active meditation in body, mind and spirit. I become the ‘seer’ in my environment as I watch my mind engage with subject and object. In doing this I hold my attention steady as I fumble with retaining a fluid response as I navigate through a myriad of minuscule emotions. I watch for subtle variations in colour hues and light and also in the areas where there appears to be an absence of light. The tension of holding space between gestural mark making and the emergence of subject matter is my real buzz, whether it is a broad landscape, an inscape, a portrait or imaginary composition.

An ethereal presence in mythical landscape, trees and wild flora imbued with ancient culture has been suggestive in many of my artworks with a lot of my paintings imbued with indigenous symbolism both visible and invisible. Having travelled quite extensively I endeavour, as a pacifist, to explore cultural and ecological principles from a global and humanistic viewpoint without all the ‘politics’ of our new world dominance in the narrative. Painting is my way of expressing the past, the present and future as ‘One’ eternal timeline.

“What fascinates me is… mythology the world over is a way of making sense of our human existence. I find the making of art in itself a very peaceful and meditative process.”

Updated 2020:

“ I have always been deeply fascinated by the paradox between the complexity and simplicity within both the Metaphysical Philosophies and Visual Arts. It is my belief that we all possess an innate knowledge of an inner healing system which needs to be consciously reawakened, in order to become functional. This knowledge may be likened to one’s own interpretation or understanding of a natural intuition which is governed by quantum / spiritual law. With our ever deteriorating social decline in mental and emotional health, society could greatly benefit by respectfully observing these self-intuitive and natural laws. 

The visual aspect of my work is a platform for thinking and feeling into the timelessness of Nature, connecting to the Ancestors, and, unearthing this intuitive, inherent memory. My intention is to incorporate studies from many indigenous healing philosophies, plant and animal life with cultural power symbols. I use mixed media applications with traditional painting techniques, subtle colour and texture, worked onto low-relief surfaces. I like the process and the result to be a reflective and somewhat tangible experience. My works are primarily based on visual interpretations of a personal and philosophical nature. However, I am also simultaneously concerned with creating a loose reflection on the therapeutic aspect involved in the making of an art piece itself. The therapeutic value lies in the creative act itself, in which the Artist consciously agrees to involve themselves in non-verbal and active intuition. The engagement of this potential allows a momentary emergence of the essential NOW, into visible existence. My Musings are… that this exploitation of potential creates an actual dual illusion. The paradox is … the Seer chooses to see either, the reflection or the density of light itself. ”

“The series of paintings ‘ Mahí ’ which I began in 2016 is inspired by the attributes of ancient symbolism which lies hidden in the stillness of nature. My mothers Saami bloodline, the indigenous people of Lapland (from the Northern Swedish area), speak to me in a non-verbal, visual language. My fathers’ bloodline, the Celtic Warriors, call me to sit in quiet stillness, here in the rugged, windy, west of Ireland. Connection to ‘Mahí’ or Mother Divine is the intended focus, process, and outcome, of my broader studies and work combined.” 

http://www.ahenaorganicfarm.com 

Email: annao.dixon6@gmail.com / Instagram/FB: #artannao

Anna also enjoys writing poetry and has recently self-published her first book: ‘Mindfulness in the Raja Sutras’, A simple guide to understanding the mind during meditation practice. It is available to order on Amazon in printed form, and very soon on kindle. She has taken the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and applied the view-point of a mindfulness instructor and westerner in her interpretations. Anna has admired and studied these essential yoga philosophies for over forty years. The book is aptly illustrated with her own visual work throughout. Also included, are some breath-taking colourful photographs which capture the essence of the many pilgrimages she ventured into the Himalayas of Northern India.

Email: annao.dixon6@gmail.com     Instagram/FB: #artannao  www.ahenaorganicfarm.com/art

“The making of any piece of Art is a deeply personal and mediative process, especially when one allows uninhibited attention to expand into the awakening consciousness. This is how we come to know our own Truth. (Anna O.)“.