Born in Kansas 1968, Anne Austin Pearce studied art at the Kansas City Art Institute, Brighton Polytechnic, UK, and the University of Kansas before earning an MFA in Drawing and Painting from James Madison University in 1993 on a full scholarship. Pearce currently lives and works in Southern California, where she is Professor of Art and Curator of the Founders Gallery at Soka University of America. Her practice is imbued with an exploration of memory, perception, ecology, and the interconnectedness of human and natural systems through intricate compositions that combine painting, ink, collage, and other / found materials.
Pearce has exhibited nationally and internationally in museums, galleries, and has participated in artist residency programs across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at institutions including the Donaldson Hill Arts Gallery, Walter Maciel Gallery, the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, among others. She has participated in residencies at Ucross Foundation (Wyoming), Rimbun Dahan (Malaysia), Black Swan Confessions of Rights (Chile), Officina Stamperia del Notaio (Sicily), The Invisible Dog Art Center (Brooklyn), The Space Department (Nara, Japan), and Eutopia Art Residency (Greece). Pearce's work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson Museum of Art, MDC Museum of Art and Design, and the Spencer Museum of Art. Her recent exhibitions continue to examine the relationships between materiality, environmental change, and the ways humans construct spirituality, emotion and meaning throughout different lived events, objects and images.
