Carolyn Anderson

Originally from the Chicago area, Anderson attended school at Illinois State University. While there, she took time off to join VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) and was assigned to the Rocky Boy Reservation in north central Montana. Many years later she returned to make this part of the West her permanent home.

Anderson has developed her own singular style, learning from other artists who inspired and supported her, but experimenting with the boundaries of traditional techniques.  Artist William Reese called her work “poetry – a poetic painting grows as time goes on.”

Try not to over-analyze the parts but pay attention to the nuance and variety inherent in everything. You don’t need to paint it all, but you need to see it all. Focus on the whole and look for obvious patterns such as rhythm, shape, color, and value. Shadows and negative spaces are your best friends. Look for relationships and never, ever, unless absolutely necessary, name the thing.

Over the years, she has received numerous awards for her paintings, including twice winning the C.M. Russell Museum Auction Best of Show. She has also received several Master Awards of Excellence at the American Impressionist Society show, several Northwest Rendezvous Merit Awards and the NWR President’s Choice Award. She has participated in major national shows for over thirty years, including the Prix de West, C.M. Russell Museum Show, and the Coors Western Art Exhibit.

A respected workshop instructor, Anderson teaches several classes a year. She has taught for the Fechin School, Scottsdale Artists’ School, Frye Museum, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, and Walt Disney Imagineering. While doing work for Walt Disney Imagineering in California, she was contracted to research and write about visual language. She has continued her research in that area of art and science and uses this information in her writing and workshop instruction.