Ann Massing
Ann Massing was born a Hoosier and raised in Illinois, and lives in Cambridge. In her professional life she was a painting restorer, teaching and restoring Old Master easel paintings for the Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge.
She first became interested in East Asian ink brush painting following a trip to China in 1986 and then Japan in 1988 and 1992. She brought back some examples of what are called the Four Treasures of the Scholar's Studio, an inkstone and ink stick, several brushes and some handmade paper, just as souvenirs, because the materials used in making Chinese paintings are very beautiful. Sometime later she joined an evening class in East Asian painting in order to learn how to use them, and she has been doing it ever since.
She works from a studio at St Barnabas Press, where she shows the full range of her work by appointment. Two books on her work are published by Cam Rivers Publishing: A Journey Eastwards: Reflections on Chinese Ink and Watercolour Paintings, and West Meets East in East Asian Brush Paintings, the latter bilingual in English and French.
Artist Statement
Chinese ink brush painting is an expression or reflection of the painter's personality through a unique art form that has been practiced for over 1,000 years. I have been painting in this style since the early 1990s.
Due to my profession as a painting restorer, I was already well trained in Western art, and eventually the two traditions, East and West, merged for me. I use the Four Treasures to create my paintings, sign my works with red vermilion paste using a seal or chop and wet mount my paintings with starch paste, but the images are a fusion of East Asian and Western art.
I have found that my study of Far Eastern art complements and balances what I have learned from our Western culture. In our globalised 21st century, ancient Eastern heritage has become part of a world culture that enriches our lives.
I also make prints; I have become captivated by the techniques involved in printmaking and their possibilities for self-expression. In both techniques, my work is inspired by the natural world and our relationship to it.