Artist Profile: Anne Petty

Anne Petty was born in Tacoma, Washington and grew up in Washington, Idaho and Utah, where she went to college. As an undergraduate, she majored in French and International Studies. After graduation, Petty moved to San Francisco and moved to the East Bay in the 1970's. 

Petty's path into art was not a direct one. “I backed into it,” she says. While working as a licensed clinical social worker, she took a photography class in Berkeley and later an interior design program where she learned perspective and drawing while working at a Psych Hospital.

“I felt committed to my work in mental health”. She later worked on military bases with the children of soldiers deploying to Iraq during the war.

In the end, Petty decided not to go into interior design after someone told her not to since she was not an artist.

In 1992, Petty moved to Benicia after visiting with a friend. She quickly found a condo she liked and bought it. “I'm not usually an impulsive person, but I was that day.” Like many local artists, Petty joined .

Around that time, she met and took a class from Larry Morace. “For a couple years it was just me and Sargamo Lipton. It kind of turned in to a painting salon. We'd listen to music and paint.”

Petty eventually got more involved with Arts Benicia, “I was excited by the shows and loved seeing the art. I had really wanted to be able to do it so it seemed like magic that I was able to.” Ironically, Petty was unaware of her artistic talent.

Now retired from the field of psychology, Petty is a full time painter. She has used oil paints and now use water-based oil. Having taken a course in watercolor, printmaking and multiple classes through Arts Benicia, Petty favors still life, especially fruit.

“I am also consulting with Lee Altman,” says Petty. “I had this thing in my head, I wanted to follow some rules and be able to show that I could do perspective.” Altman has encouraged Petty to paint whatever she likes now. “It's been a hard lesson for me to learn in life.”

Now that her job is to paint, for fun she combines travel with painting. Petty has traveled to Sante Fe, Taos, Costa Rica and France on multiple occasions to paint. While in Paris, she spends all her time in art museums. “My life is really pretty good,” Petty admits.

Besides painting, Petty belongs to a Union psychology club and had been part of a quilting club for 27 years. Her group Anne Petty and the Piecemakers make art quilts that are exhibited in national shows. Their current project is the the whisper challenge. One quilter create's a quilt from a painting, then another quilter would make a quilt inspired by the first quilt and so on.   

Anne Petty will be exhibiting her work at beginning Wednesday, May 18. The opening reception is Wednesday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.