3 photos of my studio and me on the beach in North Truro, photos courtesy of Alan Herman (alanhermanphotography.com and IG @alan.herman).
Contact: anniehayes714dotgmail.com
Annie Hayes is a painter who has lived in Delhi, a small town in upstate New York. Her paintings and drawings rise from a system of steps based on using stencils and the outline of shapes to create a beginning. Diagrammatic images combine with painterly marks and spatial location is explored. She often uses discarded food shipping boxes as places to paint on and collects throw away commercial packaging to use as tools in her work.
Annie believes in chance and chaos, in letting abstract images emerge through the physical process of painting that produces various emotions, as the intensification of the work develops, avoiding the expression of an literal emotion, or references to actual things in the world. Remaining detached from conscious definition creates a space where a viewer can experience their own emotions through the work. The visual results achieved create a sense of where the viewer is, what window they’re looking through and what might be over there, away from the viewer, but important to connect with.
The physicality of her work clearly and intentionally lets her simultaneously work on making a painting and creating an object. The inherent nature of how Annie makes her work and the materials she depends on (primarily discarded corrugate boxes as well as other found material) results in pieces that at times move away from the wall while remaining fixed to it and always have some aspect that resists any sense of machine-like regularity. This helps her break away from making an image on a conventional surface toward the duality of making an object that is also a painting and vice versa.
RECENT ACTIVITIES
The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation awarded Annie an individual support grant of $25,000 in May 2025. Twenty artists were selected from an international pool of 865 applicants. She is deeply honored to have been chosen and to be in the group of talented, hardworking artists who have also received a support grant.
KIPNZ Gallery Solo Show Upstate & Pop-Up at Diana on Henry Street, NYC /2024
KIPNZ Gallery presented a solo show of paintings, drawings and small constructions in July 2024 and followed it up with a three-person show at Diana on Henry Gallery in Lower Manhattan.
NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellowship Program / 2023
Annie was selected as a Finalist in NYFA/NYSCA’s 2023 Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts category. She submitted work from the Spark Drawings. See the complete NYSCA/NYFA category list here.
NYSCA Artist Support Grant - “The Maintenance Project” / 2023
Annie received a NYSCA Artist Support grant for “The Maintenance Project”, a project is based on images and diagrams found in historical farm machinery manuals from the 1940s and ‘50s. From this material, she assembled source books, making drawings, and developed an exhibit. This project was sponsored by the The West Kortright Centre, a regional performance, exhibition and community arts center in Delaware County, NY.
NYFA Keeping NYS Creating Award / 2020
Annie was awarded a NYFA grant to continue work interrupted by the Covid pandemic.
RESIDENCIES AND NOMINATIONS
St. Gaudens Fellowship: In 2022 Annie was nominated for a St. Gaudens fellowship.
Ellis-Beauregard Foundation: In April of 2022, Annie was a painting resident at the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation in Rockland, Maine.
Vermont Studio Center: In March of 2018 Annie was a painting resident at The Vermont Studio Center.
Anderson Ranch Arts Center: In 2019 Annie was awarded a ten-week residency at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, CO. While there, she focused on painting, and had the opportunity to work in other studios. She made a collection of laser-cut stencils using linear Adobe Illustrator files to use as tools in her paintings and also produced a series of monoprints.
