About Ann Calandro
Ann’s academic background is in English, for which she has both a bachelor’s and master’s degree. She has worked for many years as a medical editor, writer and proofreader. Although she did not receive formal training in art, she has embraced her passion by taking classes and pursuing a career. Her art has been exhibited in several online exhibitions and juried exhibitions, and in galleries across the US. Her art has been published in magazines and journals. In addition to her success in art, Ann is a published poet and author of short stories.
Her collages combine mediums, employing chalk, colored pencils, ink, pastels, paint, fabric and her own photographs. Ann’s style is realism, but with something askew. Her technique is inspired by modern artists, but she cites Henri Rousseau, Romare Bearden, Jacob Laurence, Marc Chagall and Della Wells as inspirations. Viewers can see their influence in her collages, from material and form, to color and perspective.
Artwork
Winter 2020: Constellations journal, “Remembered”
Spring 2019: Memoir magazine, “Roots and Wings”
Spring 2019: Anastamos journal, “Passing” issue, five collages
Spring 2019: Mud Season Review, featured artist, six collages and interview
Spring 2019: Stonebridge magazine, print journal, cover art, “‘A’ My Name is Annie”
Spring 2019: The Penn Review, print and digital journal, “I’ll Be There for Dinner”
September 2017: Still Point Arts Quarterly, print and digital journal, one collage
Fall 2017: Hospital Drive, “Decisions” issue, “Indirection”
June 2017: Blink-Ink, “Enchanted Forest” print issue, “Winter Tree”
Children’s books: Never Stop Drawing, Second Chances, Ruthie’s Magic Sweater, and Open can be ordered from Shanti Arts Publishing, an independent publisher of art, nature, photography, poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and children’s books, and from Amazon.
June 2015: To the Point (CPSA’s twice-yearly full-color news magazine), “The Cubicle”
Spring 2015: Still Point Arts Quarterly
Winter 2013: Portfolio in Stone Voices
June 2013: Stone Voices, the “River” issue, “East River Housing”
2013: Cover artist, Suddenly Lost in Words, volume 2, fiction e-zine for young adult readers, available for purchase as e-book download from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
2012: Finalist, Photographer’s Forum magazine: 32nd Annual Spring Photography Contest. Published in the hardcover book Best of Photography 2012 in November 2012
2009: Women Artists Datebook, published by Syracuse Cultural Workers, “View From My Window”
2008: Women Artists Datebook, published by Syracuse Cultural Workers, “Dawn”
2007: Hunterdon County Democrat supplement Hunterdon Life, November 1, 2007, interview and 4 collages
2007: The Eclectic Muse, 1 collage (“The Cellist”) paired with a poem
2007: Tattoo Highway 14, 5 collages (including the cover of the issue and the contest)
2007: Color Wheel music issue, 5 collages
2006: Diner, 3 collages; Tattoo Highway 13, 5 collages
Artist Statement
My collages are created on matboard of paper, colored pencil, marker, ink, pastel, paint, chalk, fabric, and photographs that I take. My art style is realism, more or less, but there’s something askew about it. I think of it as enchanted realism and locate it at the ever-shifting intersection of the real and the imaginary, the possible and the impossible, childhood and adulthood, and the past and the present.
Although I took some art classes as a child and as an adult, I didn’t receive formal training in art or go to art school, and I, therefore, consider myself primarily an “outsider artist.” I’ve been influenced by Henri Rousseau, who set out to reproduce the world photographically and ended up creating a world of enchantment; by Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Marc Chagall, and Della Wells, whose artwork is a symphony of color, symbolism, and narrative; by Alice Hoffman and Dara Horn, whose books mix realism with fables, fairy tales, and myths; and by many other artists, writers, and musicians, especially those–like Patti Smith–who are talented in two or more creative areas. I often get ideas for my artwork from songs or stories, and I sometimes incorporate words and musical images into my artwork.
