Today we’d like to introduce you to Annie Clavel.
Hi Annie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in Paris, France, where I studied mathematics and computer science. I gained a Master’s degree in both subjects and taught them at schools throughout France and Tunisia. I moved from France to Long Beach, California, in 2006. Once in the US, I created Les Jolis Trésors Art Gallery in Long Beach and managed it from 2009 to 2014, curating exhibitions, moderating art talks, and teaching art.
When I closed the gallery, I had more time to think about what drove me to be an artist: the freedom I have to mix colors and invent shapes? The satisfaction of imagining different imaginary worlds? The pleasure of describing scientific theories in color? I like to paint stories I’ve heard or pictures I’ve seen. I want to share the idea of infinity, large numbers and tiny particles.
I had several solo exhibitions in California with Gallery 825 in Los Angeles, C Gallery on Broadway in Long Beach, OCCCA, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Ana, LA Artcore in Los Angeles. In 2017, with LA Artcore, I organized an exchange of artists between Paris and Los Angeles.
I’m involved in different organizations in the Los Angeles area: I’m a board member of the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art as Treasurer and Chair of Marketing, I’m an active member of Los Angeles Art Association – Gallery 825 and also I am a board member of WPW (Women Painters West).
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I have spent my life following different professional paths: teaching mathematics, selling IT consultations, marketing IT classes for companies, starting an art career when I was 60. I have loved living in different countries. With my husband and three boys, we have lived in France, Germany, and Tunisia. It was always a struggle for me when I arrived in a new country. Each time I had to discover the different lifestyles, I had to learn the habits and customs of the country and to speak a new language. When I arrived in California, I started teaching watercolor classes to French people at Les Jolis Tresors Art Gallery. At that time, I thought nobody could understand my English!
However, I had to do it in English very soon as a docent of Long Beach Museum of Art saw the group through the window and asked to join. I was terrified to teach art in English, but it worked and she understood what I said. Another stressful experience was when I participated for the first time in an art exhibition. I didn’t know what to do. Should I speak to the visitors that were looking at my paintings? And if they asked questions, will I find my words to answer? It’s hard to be fluent in a new language when you are not very young. Sixteen years later, in 2022, I am more confident.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a self-taught artist. 35 years ago, I started painting still lifes in watercolor on paper. Five years later, in an acrylic workshop, the instructor asked me if I wanted to try abstraction, and I enjoyed doing it and didn’t stop. Presently I am known for my watercolors on YUPO and mixed media on canvas. YUPO is a plastic “paper” and the technique is very different from watercolor on paper. For those paintings, I use moist watercolors in a tube, I apply them directly on the surface, and then I add a large amount of water with a large brush. In this first layer, the vivid colors mingle randomly together. Later on, I wipe out a few spots of the painting and add new layers with big splashes of watercolor and thin connecting lines.
My painting techniques include a variety of contemporary mixed media: acrylic, watercolor, craie comté, lightweight paste, coarse paste, pastels, and fabric.
Here is what Jacqueline Bell Johnson wrote about my mixed media paintings: “Annie Clavel’s paintings depict an understanding of the birth of structure: force, energy, and matter collide on the surface of her canvas in a glorious polychrome. The momentum is captured in rich layers of paint explosive forms in centric compositions”.
My paintings are abstract paintings, only different by their colors, shapes and forms. Movement is always present, no straight lines.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Try different techniques, mix a variety of colors and use different surfaces. Don’t focus on a small detail on your current work, but think about the whole painting.
Look for the concept that you will find in yourself… and work every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.annieclavel.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annieclavelart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clavelannie
Image Credits
Annie Clavel
