Artist Spotlight–Carolyn Anne Anderson
Artist Spotlight–Carolyn Anne Anderson
Carolyn Anne Anderson is a self-taught artist whose body of work is influenced greatly by her experience of living with a disability. In 1991 she acquired a spinal cord and traumatic brain injury in a motor vehicle accident at age 17 (now 50 years old). Living with permanent paralysis, she has used a wheelchair all of her adult life.
The role the esoteric played in healing post injury: from psychedelic use in the early years which was later replaced by Buddhist meditation practice is present in her sublime paintings. One lasting result of her brain injury caused a form of synesthesia: where colors produce sounds and tones similar to tinnitus ear ringing. Art and music have played an integral role in learning how to live with and manage what at times became an overwhelming and disorienting condition.
Within the realm of the canvas, she has complete control of the uncontrollable. Her tonal awareness informs color choice and compatibility dictates her palette.
Her most recent work explores human figural painting, bodies in nature, & mythologies of the Southwest’s Sonoran Desert.
Photo of the artist by J Weskenskow
While her paintings don’t focus solely on images of disability as subject matter, they work towards making the experience of living with spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries more visible. Within this, Anderson has been a contributing voice to the disability culture movement for over 3 decades.
A graduate of the University of Arizona (1997 & 2002), Anderson currently lives and works on Tucson, Arizona .
What is she listening to in the studio? As an avid vinyl enthusiast with eclectic taste hard to summarize some current favorite musical acts, psychedelic or otherwise, are: Spoon Benders, Father John Misty, Grizzly Bear, Irish dream pop band Frankenstein Bolts, Xixa, Devandra Barnhardt, classics like Black Sabbath, T Rex, The Doors, and psych doom rock’s Pallbearer, The Sword, All Them Witches, and Red Fang.
You can see more of her work online at CarolynAnneAnderson.com and Instagram: ArtistCarolynAnneAnderson.
