Art

Anna Mullin began painting as a way to pass the time with her mother, who was a wheelchair-bound, stroke victim on oxygen.  Through the help of art instructor, Dennis Sears, she was able to assemble the materials and learn the basics of painting oil on canvas.  Her mother served as her “in house art critic” until she passed away in 2008.  By that time, Anna was enthralled with every aspect of painting.  Since then, she has branched out to mount one-person exhibits in galleries and museums throughout the state of Alabama.

Her first one-person exhibit,  “God’s Picture Show,” premiered at The Meadows Gallery in Gadsden, AL, in October, 2011, featuring ten nature scenes of extraordinary cloud formations occurring in the first decade of the 21^st century.   The exhibit completed its run at the Kentuck Gallery in Northport, AL, in July, 2012.

The next one-person exhibit, “Elements: Earth, Wind, Fire, Sea & Sky,” opened at the Mary G. Hardin Center for Cultural Arts in Gadsden, AL, on February 11, 2013 and ran through April 21, 2013.  It explored ancient beliefs of natural forces working alternately for and against mankind: for example, the contrast between the deadly strength of a tornado and the softness of a gentle breeze blowing curtains in an open window.

Her third one-person exhibit, “Into the Night,” premiered at the Isabel Anderson Comer Museum in Sylacauga, AL, on February 5, 2014.  Examining how the human eye perceives the change from dusk to darkness, “Into the Night” is largely based on studies of the vision of pilots and scuba divers. The exhibit completed its tour at The Edge of Chaos, a gallery atop the Lister Hill Medical Building on the campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, with a long-running show from May 19 till September 12, 2014.

The fourth one-person exhibit, “The Nature of Pale,” premiered at the Gadsden Museum of Art in Gadsden, AL, on April 1, 2015. Scheduled for a 6-week run, it was so well received that it was held over an additional six weeks, closing on June 19, 2015. It explored objects that were pale in color, such as sand, snow, blond hair, etc., and the reasons behind their light color. “The Nature of Pale” included 10 new paintings and an additional 20 paintings tracking the progress of the artist’s interest in the relationship between art and science.

Her most recent one-person exhibit, “Legends and Myths,” premiered at the LaGrange Museum of Art in LaGrange, GA, from June 1 through July 15, 2016. It dealt with legends and myths from cultures around the world and was part of the museum’s summer program for children. “Legends and Myths” was also exhibited at the Meadows Gallery in Gadsden, AL, from March 6 through April 27, 2017, and is scheduled to be shown at the Isabel Anderson Comer Museum in Sylacauga, AL, from May 1-31, 2018.

Anna is best known for her landscapes in which light seems to emanate from within the painting.  Two of her paintings, “Colorado Mountains” and “Gathering Clouds,” were included in the art book, International Contemporary Artists, Volume IV. She has also been featured in the Winter, 2014 issue of Gadsden Style magazine and the Feb. 5, 2014 issue of The Daily Home in Talladega County, AL. People who collect her work include Joseph J. Andrew, former head of the Democratic National Committee and author of the thriller, “The Disciples.”