Conversations with Ann Gildner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ann Gildner.

Hi Ann, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Art was always a part of my daily life. My father gave me two impressionable advice 1)” Use your head.” And “A problem is the being of a solution.” Through my years working in the family cement manufacturing business, BFA degree at Siena Heights University with International studies in Europe, Internship at the Toledo museum (which I thought was my direction in the arts”), But I packed up and moved back North because I love visiting the city but it’s not me. Moving back to Northern Michigan an art degree was not impressive for job opportunities, so I opened a flower shop and art gallery which I owned and operated for 35 years. As a gallery owner, many people would walk by. But If I had something outside, they stopped and looked. I needed to be outside. My media was clay and paint. In the local paper an add caught my eye, “Learn to weld.” I needed to get my work outside for public viewing and metal was the answer.

Wow! The first strike of the rod, I loved it. Learning to weld is understanding your tools and machine, now I had a new direction. What changed, is when the owner of the metal corporation the school came in, took notice in my maquettes. he pointed to a small sculpture and asked, ” How big do you want to make it?”. Wide eyed, I responded, ” 15 feet!”. Mr. Moran said make it 8 feet. Today, after 12 years with Mr. Moran as my mentor, I have remade my career as a metal sculpture.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The most disruptive event was my cancers diagnosis and then the surgeries. To escape the anxiety I turned to my art to find peace of mind during recovery.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My studies have been in ceramics and painting, now I work mainly in metal. My formal training was learning and studying from modern and classical art history. As a professor said,” you learn from the masters and then breath your own style”. I believe you have to study your subject, learn your media and tools then you can do your own thing. My style range from abstract, modern, to contemporary. For example, if I am sculpting a bird, I study its shape and form inside and out. The results are not realistic but true to the subject image and feel.

3-D work is my favorite because you can walk around it and see the many shapes an image holds. Then relief work is my second choice because a wall piece has depth to it. Best of all these two styles reflect interesting shadows throughout the day.

I have done several pieces that was done emotionally and it is reflected in the sculpture. “Becca Triumphs” was created when I was going through my first cancer surgery that left my arm hard to move. The whole process of recovery is told in this piece. It tells of being held and intertwined with health issuers but over time I was released to live longer.

I don’t consider myself better or unique from any other artist. I love working with my hands, mind and most of all heart.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Perseverance. There are times when I know what I want to achieve but struggle to begin. So, I show up in my studio everyday and start thinking. I might finish an old project or just clean but all of a sudden the muse finds me and I find my opening to start the new project. Art happens, all you have to do is show up.

Pricing:

• A sculpture. I take in the time of designing, tools, materials, consumables used, hourly rate, and fee for the tools being used.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: Ann Gildner or Gildner Gallery Studio