West Plains Council on the Arts (WPCA) will host an exhibition entitled “Then and Now – Artistic Journey of Ann Kulpa” by area artist Ann Kulpa in the Gallery at the Center, West Plains Civic Center from February 1 through March 8, 2025. The Gallery, on the mezzanine, is open to the public during regular Civic Center hours.
Artist’s Statement: As a child my hands were kept busy creating things. In school doodling on my papers instead of writing notes was an issue. I was a dreamer then and even today my mind wanders.
My husband and I lived in Colorado for many years before moving to the Ozarks and have lived in Cabool now for over 20 years. In Colorado I competed in juried art shows from Evergreen to Ft. Collins, earning awards and accepting commission work as a portrait artist. I worked for Interweave Press in Loveland CO, creating and writing ‘How To’ articles on herbal crafts that were published in The Herb Companion Magazine. In Missouri, I have won awards for my artwork in photography, graphite, pen & ink, digital painting and most recently, mixed-media acrylic paintings. As well, I taught classes in arts and crafts for the local art council. Because of my interest in the intuitive creative process, in 2022 I returned to the form of abstract art that I created naturally as a child and have continued this intuitive experiment in the multimedia process.
I am inspired by lines and patterns I see all around me and colors in nature, how they change in hue and move over a surface. When I draw lines and swirls that meet and part, intersections, thick lines and thin, there’s an intuitive connection to explore. It is through this process that a painting eventually tells me what it wants to be.
WPCA will host a reception for the exhibit on Saturday, February 15, 2025, from 2:00 – 4:00 PM in the Gallery at the Center. All are invited to attend, meet the artist, and discuss her work. The exhibit is co-sponsored by the West Plains Civic Center and West Plains Council on the Arts, with partial funding provided by Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.
