Annette Bush annette@annettebush.com
706-722-1745
(studio/home) annettebush.com
Education:
Associate of Arts -- Augusta State
University
(formerly Augusta College) Augusta, GA
Bachelor of Arts in Religion -- LaGrange College, LaGrange, GA
Independent and graduate-level study in piano
Independent study and workshops with nationally
known instructors in painting techniques
Travel and independent study in art history
Artist Statement:
For me, the creation of images is a natural heritage flowing from
generations of clever and spirited women in my family who never thought
of BEING an artist or musician. It was just what they did in
their daily lives. So the patterns, rhythms and colors are now
who I am and the quirky combinations of images gathered, words learned
and symbols remembered make their way into the planning of new work
giving a visual energy and sensitive strength to my original intent. I
do not always know where a painting will end or what its story will be,
but each becomes an intimate part of a lifelong narrative.
About The Artist:
When an artist returns from travels, her bags may be
filled with souvenirs, brochures and rocks, but her head is filled with
images,
colors and shapes. Each trip affects my paintings in
unexplainable ways -- altering the spirit, enthusiasm and
strength. My travels to Japan showed me the value of downtown
Augusta's historic treasures. Painting in France gave me a new
understanding of light and color in Georgia. A visit to the
western desert gave me a renewed awareness of the American South - its
shapes, its colors and its heart. Travel continues to be an
important part of my exploration as an artist. Techniques can be
learned; sensibilities must be experienced.
Primarily a watercolorist, I recently turned to an explosion of color
in oils on canvas. A new medium and new techniques call for a
return to favorite sketches in new compositions and new
relationships. It has been an exciting
change for me. An excursion into art history and a book
illustration have added
another dimension to my creativity, so that the juxtaposition of
images, words and symbols
give meaning beyond the first look.
In over 35 years of painting, exhibiting and teaching, I have been both
a creator and a supporter of art. I have been represented by
galleries in West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and
Florida. I have received awards in small local festivals,
regional art events and major watercolor competitions; have been
recognized by proclamations from two mayors and presented with the Key
to the City of Columbus, GA. I have taught painting techniques in
workshops across the South, in France and Japan and through continuing
education classes and to my private
students, the Bush League Painters. I was pleased to introduce
art appreciation/art history to students at a local college
as an adjunct professor. I have selected, delivered and installed
four exhibitions to Japan at the invitation of Japanese city
officials. I have served on the boards of arts groups in
various capacities, including two terms each as President of both the
Georgia Watercolor Society and the Southern Watercolor Society where I
also earned signature status in each. I was the driving force
behind the development of Augusta's Broad Street Artists Row and its
First Friday Gallery Crawl, a downtown renewal initiative which opened
six buildings for artists studios and which now attracts several
thousand people each month. In October, 2005, I was
added to "The Wall of Outstanding Alumni" at LaGrange (GA)
College.
I continue to explore ways to improve
my art and my community through the arts. In April 2006, I will
return to France for a month long Art
Residency at Centre d'Art Contemporain in Sainte Colombe sur l'Hers.
A native of Augusta, I have lived in five Southern states before
returning to my native city. I serve on the LaGrange (GA)
College Alumni Council and the Jessye Norman School of the Arts
Advisory Council. I am Founding Chairman of the Historic
Cemeteries of Augusta Foundation and was the first woman Chairman
of Augusta's Downtown Development Authority.
Chronological
Experience:
The following list of highlights covers only the last fifteen
years. Where not specifically noted, the location is Augusta,
Georgia USA.
2006 (upcoming) January -- Featured Artist with
Victoria von Kap-herr (Germany), West End Gallery, Winston Salem, NC April -- Accepted for month long Art
Residency, Centre d'Art
Contemporain, Sainte Colombe sur l'Hers,
France September -- Returning for third time
as Art
Judge, Powers' Crossroads Festival, Newnan, GA
2005 Appointed Chairman,
Advisory
Council,
The Jessye Norman School of the
Arts Participant in Arts
Intensive in New York City - Fourteen days of
seminars, museums and galleries,
and
Christo's
"The Gates" Consultant to Arts in the Garden
Committee, Georgia Golf Hall of
Fame's Botanical Gardens Honored by LaGrange (GA) College as
Outstanding Alumni
2004 Juror of Awards, Piccolo Spoleto
Outdoor Exhibition, Charleston, South Carolina Solo Show, "Under The Summer Sun" --
The Pinnacle Club's Artist at the
Top Adjunct professor of Design
& Art History and Appreciation, Aiken
(SC) Technical College Honored with Life Membership in the
Beech Island (SC) Historical
Society for Arts Contributions
2003 Created and became first Chairman
of the Historic Cemeteries of Augusta Foundation to preserve two hundred
years of
history, monuments and landscape Solo Show, "The Tucson Interval" --
The Pinnacle Club's Artist at the
Top Elected First Woman Chairman of
Augusta's Downtown Development
Authority (Appointed to the board
in 1997) Adjunct Professor of Art History and
Appreciation, Aiken (SC) Technical
College Juror of Awards, Arts in the Heart of
Augusta Festival
2002 October 11, 2002 – Annette Bush
Day -- proclamation by Mayor Bob Young Group Show, "Annette Bush and
Friends" -- The Pinnacle Club's Artist at
the Top Hosted "Virtual Friends/Real
Gardens" -- an international invitational
exhibition, The Bush Studio Adjunct professor of Art
History and Appreciation, Aiken (SC) Technical
College
2001 Juror of Awards – Albany
Center for the
Arts, Albany, GA Artist In Residence – The
Lamar Building, Augusta, GA (through 2004) Adjunct professor of Art History
and Appreciation, Aiken (SC) Technical
College
2000 Illustrator, "Five
Fortune Tellers
of New Windsor" by Virginia Bowe Strickland, the story of Swiss Pioneer Families in South
Carolina:
Tobler, Zubley, Meyer, Sturzenegger and Nail Juror of Selection and
Awards, National Exhibition, Douglasville, GA Art Judge, Powers'
Crossroads Festival, Newnan, GA Solo Show, Douglas Center for the
Arts, Douglasville, GA
1999 Instructor for watercolor
seminars in
Gainesville & Cartersville, GA On-going classes &
workshops with the Bush League Painters Award, Festival of the
Arts, Jackson, GA Festival
Founder/Director, Take Five! for Art, May Sundays
1998 Solo show "Trees, Clay
&
Cotton" - the Historic Cotton Exchange Museum Curated, transported
& installed exhibition 'The Colors of Augusta
Green" for prefecture-wide event at
invitation of Takarazuka City -- exhibition held in two locations Instructor for watercolor
seminars in Takarazuka, Japan Instructor for sketching
seminars, The International Art Club, The
South of France
1997 Study/sketching in South of
France
with International Art Club Solo Exhibition, -Emerging
Images-, Fahnoe Fine Art Juror, Cave Spring Country Festival,
Cave Spring, GA.
1996 Group Exhibition, Augusta
Seven, The
Bush Studio Studio Artist, The Bush Studio,
Broad Street Artists Row
1995 Director,
Augusta-Takarazuka
Cultural Exchange of Artists & Exhibition, Georgia & Japan Juror, Winter Arts Festival,
Middle Georgia Art Association, Macon, GA Studio Artist, The Bush
Studio, Broad Street Artists Row
1994 President, Olde Town
Neighborhood
Association, Augusta, GA (second term) Curated, transported and
installed exhibition of Augusta works on
paper, at the invitation of Takarazuka City International
and
Cultural Center, Takarazuka, Japan Studio Artist & First
Chairman, Broad Street Artists' Row,
(through 1996) Solo Exhibition,
'Takarazuka Impressions"
1993 Commissioned to
create painting of the proposed Emily Tubman monument, first monument to a
woman in Augusta Coordinator for the Mayor, The Broad
Street Artists
Row Project a
downtown revitalization
project which opened with six buildings of artists' studios
1992 Founder/First
President, The Gallery Toulouse, an Artists' Cooperative President, Olde Town
Neighborhood Association Art Judge, Powers Crossroads
Festival, Newnan, GA Workshop Instructor, Watercolor
-- Getting to Know it Again!,
Continuing Education Department, Augusta (GA) College (Augusta
State
University)
1991 Author, Hot
& Cold Runnin'. . .
Color! Watercolor Study Guide Artist/Writer, Tour of Homes
brochures GA (through 1997) Arts Chairman, The Augusta
Invitational Rowing Regatta GWS THIRTEEN, Georgia Watercolor
Society National. Museum of Art and
Sciences, Columbus, GA. "Wishing Wall." Juror: Margaret
Martin AWS.
1990 Selected as
Sole Representative of
City of Augusta
for Cultural Exchange to Takarazuka, Japan transported &
installed exhibition of 39 Southern watercolors Director, Mayor's Program to
Spotlight
Local Artists - 1989 - 1997 President, The Southern
Watercolor Society, 1987-1991
Selected Collections –
each has multiple ABush paintings
The Radisson
Riverfront Hotel and
Conference Center, Augusta, GA (19 paintings) First Federal Bank,
Columbus, GA (10
paintings) Georgia Power Company,
Augusta/Thomson, GA Medical College of Georgia
Hospitals
and Clinics, Augusta, GA Wachovia Bank, Augusta, GA Bank of America, Augusta, GA City of Takarazuka, Japan