SWIM ZONE & DAISY CHAIN | DECEMBER 2022
Annie Duncan’s work draws from personal narrative and examines the objects, patterns, colors, and people that compose her lived experience. The world conveyed in her paintings and sculptures oscillates between dream and reality, with one foot in each. She explores themes like intimacy and evolving notions of femininity, lingering on the subjects that accumulate to form an archive of emotive, everyday moments.
Annie is a painter and sculptor from San Francisco, where the light and colors of the landscape have always inspired her. She has worked as a teaching artist in residence at The Oxbow School, printmaking teacher at The Putney School Summer Arts in Putney, Vermont, and an emerging fellow at Gallery Route One in Point Reyes Station, CA. She received a BA from Vassar College in 2019, with a major in Urban Studies and a minor in Studio Art. She is currently pursuing an MFA at the California College of the Arts.
Q & A Annie Duncan
Plunge: Have you always made art?
Annie: My dad is an architect so we were always drawing and working on little projects. And I took ceramics classes from a really young age, so I was always making things. And then I think from there it was just a question later like, am I into architecture, design, graphic design…?
And you grew up in San Francisco?
Yeah, I grew up here in the city.
What made you want to come back after you went to Vassar?
Well I kind of circled back during the pandemic and I think it felt really good to be at home and out int Pt. Reyes, too, out in nature. It’s super beautiful. I didn’t really realize but I still have so much community here and I’m reconnecting with so many different people. And actually, I’m really glad I came back.
How far along are you in MFA here at CCA?
This is the second year. It’s only a two year program.
Is all the work that we’re seeing here for school?
Yeah, well at this point the program is kind of just your own practice. Like everything over here, I made over the summer and last spring. It’s such a blessing to have this space. Over the summer I was here working everyday.
Is your MFA in painting?
Yeah, I mean it’s super open. There’s like thirty-five people in the class and everyone does totally different things.
From the looks of your studio it seems like you’re doing a little bit of everything as well.
Yeah that’s what I’m trying to do… Trying to bring it all together.
Your sculptures are very painterly. Was that something that happened naturally or did you have to work towards finding a cohesive style?
Well, when I started making the ceramic objects a couple years ago, I realized [that] with the underglaze you can kind of just treat them like you would canvases. You can really have a palette and paint them in a way that’s much more like painting and less what people think of as clay.
What’s your practice like? What’s a day in the life of Annie?
Oh usually I get here by 9:30. Usually I bike here, which is a good little bike ride. I live over in NoPA, off the panhandle. And then I get here and usually I’ll try and paint all day. Now I am TA’ing at a ceramics class so usually I’ll do a few days a week of clay.
Is your ultimate goal to do art full time?
Yeah I mean that’s definitely the goal. I’d also love to teach. It’s fun to be a student and be a teacher.
What part of the process of making art excites you most?
I think right now I am just really enjoying clay and not knowing where things will go. And I think things work well when I surprise myself. I think that’s been when I’ve been successful. I’m really just enjoying playing right now.
When have you felt the most successful so far?
I feel like right now I’m in a little groove. Not that I’m at my most successful, but I feel like I’ve kind of hit a grind and I’m really excited to be in the studio. And I have a bunch of ideas.
What is it that makes you feel like -- yes, this is working, or things are coming together?
I think when I finish a painting sometimes I just know whether it’s good or not. And it was actually nice over the summer, to not have any feedback from anyone and not really think about that at all.
Is color theory a big part of your practice?
I actually took an Albers color class in undergrad which was really wacky and not at all I was expecting but it was really cool. And now it’s embedded in everything I do.
I’m sure it’s crazy to think that your schooling is almost done.
I know. It is crazy. I’m also like, what am I going to do without this studio? I’m applying to a bunch of stuff right now for after school, so we’ll see what happens… Residencies and a few fellowships… Just gotta cast wide.
It seems like a lot of your path has unfolded through school but what else do you think has contributed to your creative path? Do you have any insight for other young artists about how to be an artist?
I feel like that’s what I’m always asking. I try to show up to everything that comes on my radar, like shows. Especially in the Bay. I meet people that way. Also just getting out — I have a studio in a building which is kind of nice as opposed to a home studio.
Community is so important to being a part of the art world in general. This is something I ask everybody — how does making art make you feel?
A lot. Like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.
That’s great, you’re in the right place. We are excited to keep watching you grow.
Check out Annie's Playlist on the Plunge Spotify Page ~