Ann Vandervelde utilizes the incredible systems of the Earth to process with paint the way composers create highly involved movements in music. Fascinated by capturing that dynamic feeling of sound in visual art, Vandervelde allows her use of acrylic paint, oil pastels and paper to take form the resiliency and destruction of our planet. She magnetizes maps “in an attempt to answer questions about the importance of green and urban space, climate, sound, structure, light and water and our own not insignificant footprint.” What results are gestural interpretations of the vast array of natural and unnatural activity in our environment, where central cavities of color and fast-paced mark-making are surrounded and overlapped by light fields of neutrality. The lightness and lively colors are offset by voids of darkness where true black is used, as if suggesting something like the incomprehensible power and depth of a black hole.Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Ann Vandervelde began her art education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and went on to get her Master’s in Education from Penn State University. She now lives in Seattle, Washington where she’s surrounded by water and encouragement to create art inspired by our natural environment.