‘The joy, satisfaction, and single-mindedness that I felt as a child, when drawing or sculpting, stays with me and sustains my lifelong, artistic practice.’ Anna Friesen

Anna Friesen is a North Bay artist, based in Santa Rosa, California. Her artistic practice is influenced by a lifetime relationship with and observations of the natural world.  She honors its impermanence and  interconnections through media and imagery choices, and cultivates a mind open to finding new ways to view, express, and experience life.

Other influences include: a childhood rooted in the tradition of multi-generational, family farming; parents and grandparents schooled in the ways of nature; parental examples of creativity as an integral part of life; the writings of Annie Dillard, E.G. Krupp, Carl Jung, and philosophers of ancient cultures; the artwork of Agnes Pelton, Helen Frankenthaler, contemporary Chinese brush painting; study of motion and energy in the practices of yoga, Tai Chi and Qi Gong; traveling to worldwide ancient sites;

Anna’s bodies of work include: experimental, film photography; large scale graphite and colored pencil drawings; brush paintings; plein air watercolors and drawings. She received a grant to produce large scale banners of photographs overlaid with Polaroid transfers for display at the Huntington Beach Art Center in 1999. Invitational projects include leading the Installation Group for the Judy Chicago / Donald Sutherland project, ‘Envisioning the Future;’ exhibition and workshop opportunities in Bangkok, Nakhon Sawan, and Krabi, Thailand in 2018 and 2020.