Anne Sudworth
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
artist internationally known for her paintings of magical trees and haunting moonlit landscapes. Drawing and painting since early childhood, she started her career as a professional artist in 1993 when she presented her first exhibition "Visions and Views". Many more exhibitions have followed including the highly successful "Dreams and Whispers" show and "The Dark Side". She has since exhibited widely and now has work in many collections around the world including Germany, Australia, America, Russia, Japan, New Zealand and the UK. She is a self taught artist, always preferring to explore her own ideas. She has worked with a variety of media including oil, clay, charcoal, watercolour and pen and ink. She now works mostly with pastel.
Her dark moody pastel paintings are deeply involved with nature and its more mystical aspects, something which is most evident in her "Earth Light Trees". She is perhaps best known for her "Earth Light Trees", an ongoing series of paintings which represents a central theme in her work, where trees, woodlands and forests glow with their own "earth light" and life force, symbolising the power and energy which the earth holds. Moonlight is also a dominant feature with the moon in various phases providing an important part of the symbolism which runs throughout her paintings. She is also well known for her depiction of many of the British megalithic sites, among them — Avebury
Avebury
Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles which is located around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, south west England. Unique amongst megalithic monuments, Avebury contains the largest stone circle in Europe, and is one of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain...
, Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
, Wayland's Smithy
Wayland's Smithy
Wayland's Smithy is a Neolithic long barrow and chamber tomb site located near the Uffington White Horse and Uffington Castle, at Ashbury in the English county of Oxfordshire ....
and Castlerigg Stone Circle
Castlerigg stone circle
The stone circle at Castlerigg is situated near Keswick in Cumbria, North West England...
. Her inspiration comes from many things including dreams, mysticism, nature, death, mythology and folklore. Her paintings are often described as gothic and her strange, haunting works, particularly her moonlit scenes, have influenced many. She is also described as a visionary artist.
In 2001 there was a large solo exhibition of her work in Cork Street
Cork Street
Cork Street is a street in Mayfair in the West End of London, England. It is very well known in the British art world for the commercial art galleries that dominate the street. It is located to the north of Burlington House, which houses the Royal Academy, a leading British art institution...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
at the Gallery 27. In 2002 she won a Chesley award for her painting "The Snow Tree". In 2004 there was a major solo exhibition of her work in London at the A&D Gallery. Also in 2004 she was a featured artist guest and art show judge at DragonCon in Atlanta. In 2006 there was an exhibition of her pastels and charcoals at Cannizaro House in London. In May 2007 there was a major solo exhibition of her work in London at the Square One Gallery. In Spring 2008 she was invited to exhibit at the famous Strawberry Hill House in London, home of Horace Walpole, who wrote the first Gothic novel "Castle of Otranto".
Sudworth does not do illustration work and very rarely accepts commissions. She has, however, produced a small number of covers for Storm Constantine
Storm Constantine
Storm Constantine is a British science fiction and fantasy author, primarily known for her Wraeththu series.- Life and work :Since the late 1980s Constantine has written more than 20 novels, plus several non-fiction books...
and Gwyneth Jones
Gwyneth Jones (novelist)
Gwyneth Jones is an English science fiction and fantasy writer and critic, and a young adult/children's writer under the name Ann Halam.-Biography and writing career:...
, as well as a number of other authors and musicians, including Oliver Wakeman
Oliver Wakeman
Oliver Wakeman is a rock keyboardist, best known as a member of Yes, where he replaced his father, Rick Wakeman.-Biography:Oliver is the first son of Rick Wakeman, but his parents divorced when he was young....
. She is a well known figure on the Goth
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
scene and has appeared in a number of books on both art and goths including Mick Mercer's well known Goth Rock Books.
In 2000, the publisher Paper Tiger
Paper Tiger Books
Paper Tiger is a publishing house started in 1976 by Martyn and Roger Dean, on the back of their success at publishing Dean's Views graphic album under sister imprint Dragon's Dream...
published a book on Sudworth's work called Enchanted World: The Art of Anne Sudworth.
In March 2007 a new book on her work was published by AAPPL, called "Gothic Fantasies: The Paintings of Anne Sudworth".