Anne Farley Gaines
Chicago artist Anne Farley Gaines’ early interest in art was inspired by studying the works of her great-uncle, Lynn Bogue Hunt, noted wildlife artist. Her family lived in the country in South Haven, Michigan. She grew up surrounded by nature. Gaines attributes having lived near Lake Michigan to her passion for painting near water when she travels to such remote places as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Florida. Hence the title of this exhibit at the North Shore YMCA, “Climates with Water.”
Gaines received a BA in Studio Art from Principia College, Elsah, Illinois in 1976 and an MFA in Painting from BowIing Green State University in 1980, the year she moved to Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. She owns a Victorian home there with her husband, Geoffrey Novelli, with whom she sometimes collaborates in ceramic and other media.
In recent years, Gaines has become a member of Artists for Climate Awareness, an organization that promotes workshops and lectures by artists whose concern for the effects of climate change is reflected in some of their works. She gave workshops in watercolor and clay in Bloomington, IN that reflected those concerns summer of 2023.
Currently Gaines is working on a 24-foot by 10-foot installation for a church in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago using sections from its former dome.
Nature-based murals become an important aspect of her production after being commissioned to create four 20’x12’ fabric banners in acrylic for Sara Lee in 1993 titled “Heartland Almanac." Many of her murals are now collaborative, the first one being a mixed-media mural commissioned from the city of Palos Heights, IL involving a tile border by students in 9 local schools titled "Treasures of Palos Heights." When Gaines was a Visiting Faculty at Principia College in 2014 her class in public art produced a multi-sectioned mural with agrarian and political overtones installed on a building near the Mississippi River.
In early 2016 Gaines designed and produced a mosaic and ceramic mural with teachers, students, artists, and other participants in Wichita Falls, Texas, capitalizing on the nature, landmarks, and symbolism of the region through a grant from the Priddy Foundation written by the director of the Wichita Falls Museum of Art. Recent mural works are three cement barriers transformed into 3-D murals at the Maxwell Street Community Garden on 13th Street in Chicago created in 2020 and 2021 with local youths. For these “Continuous Growth” series murals, she received a grant in 2020 from the Chicago Housing Consulting Services and in 2021 received an Illinois Arts Program Grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.
Ceramic works and paintings of Anne Farley Gaines are in numerous private and public collections throughout the United States, including Valley Hospital in New Jersey, the Kalamazoo Institute of Art, the Rockford Art Museum in Rockford, IL, and the Wichita Falls Museum of Art in Texas. She has exhibited in several galleries and in juried and curated exhibitions. More information on her can be found by logging onto her website www.annefarleygaines.com.