Anne Bouie
Anne Bouie was born in Birmingham, Alabama; she grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and was deeply affected by the beauty and culture she experienced during summers on her grandparents’ farm in Florida. Her family lived in six states, and she had attended seven schools by the fifth grade before settling in Riverside, California, where she grew up, and eventually graduated from the University of California there. She left southern California and moved to the Bay Area to enter the graduate School of Education at Stanford University, where she earned a Ph.D. in Administration & Policy Analysis, a Master’s degree in Secondary Education, and a Master’s degree in African-American History.
Though highly trained in education and history, Anne Bouie is an artist in the naïve tradition, and draws heavily upon pre-conversion indigenous cultures, which use art to heal, teach, and sustain meaning. The traditions of southern folk artists are also a source of inspiration. Her pivotal moment as an artist came while attending a meeting of the Black Artists of DC, who encouraged her to “stop sitting on her ideas for art and get busy doing it. In 2006, her work was accepted in Found, an exhibit sponsored by BADC, and she had been working as an artist since then. As a mixed media, assemblage artist, Ms. Bouie has exhibited at the Honfluer Gallery, Galarie Myrtis, the Nevin Kelly Gallery, Millennium Salon, and the D.C. Arts Center. She has also participated in exhibits in California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and India. She is a member of the Black Artists of D.C., the Millennium Arts Salon, Washington D.C. Friends of Brandywine, and the Women’s Caucus for the Arts, the Honfluer Gallery, the Washington Arts Project, Zenith Gallery and the Pen and Brush Gallery in New York.
My goals and aspirations as an artist are to express the universal themes of order, harmony, growth, beauty, and transcendence that under gird the art most pre-conversion religious and spiritual traditions. These traditions frequently employed symbols, which often served as a “shorthand” way of communicating truths and teachings—the use of color, the placement, shapes, order, and quantity of any given combination of objects, artifacts and ingredients was always intentional, and always meaningful. I am continually amazed to find these themes among pre-conversion European, American Indian, and African cultures, and I draw upon all these themes in my work.
In these traditions, along with the essential purpose of contributing beauty to life, art served as a medium to connect with, and acknowledge the existence of consciousness on “both sides of the veil”. Art is the medium to explain and communicate timeless spiritual values important for living.
I believe my role, as an artist, is to help make the invisible visible in the life of “modern” individuals and the community. I seek to acknowledge and honor these universal, and ancient teachings of connectedness and meaning, keep tradition, and declare their relevance in and for our very modern, yet often, barren, lives. In doing so, I believe these teachings—as well as those who held them– stay alive and remain with us to do as they have always done—help us be aware of our connection to the Invisible, and to one another; nourish and sustain us, give meaning to our individual and collective journeys, and enable us to heal and help “all our relations”.
I believe that it is difficult for activism with no basis in spirituality, roots, and that is not informed by the wisdom and guidance of its heritage has the potential to be misguided, unable to heal and transform at all levels of one’s being: intellectual, emotional, and spiritual.
Selected Exhibition Resume
Solo Shows
2024 At the Equinox, Hillyer Gallery, Washington DC
2017 Hallowed Ground, Northern Virginia Community College, Manassas VA
Recollected, Cade Art Gallery, Ann Arundel Community College, Arnold, MD
Creative Alchemy, Howard University, Washington, DC
2016 The Four Moments of the Sun, Flashpoint Gallery, Washington, DC
2015 The Hill Center, Washington, DC
2014 Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC The Art of Anne Bouie Transformative Roots & Ritual Objects
2014 Seven African Powers, Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2013 Testament, Schlesinger Gallery, Northern Virginia Community College
Earth Seeing, Earth Knowing, The Arts Club of Washington
2009 Busboys & Poets, Washington, DC.
Selected Group Shows
2020 4th Biennial Maryland Regional Juried Art Exhibition
Black Classism in the Visual Arts, Howard University, Washington DC
Threads of Truth. Social Impact & Fiber Arts, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL
2019 Ritual, The Tuttle Gallery at McDonough School, Baltimore, MD
Just Do It: Friends of Michael Platt, Honfleur Gallery, Washington DC
Reconstructing Hope, Pepco Edson Gallery, Washington, DC
400 Years, Montgomery County African American Museum, Hyattsville, MD
4th Biennial Maryland Regional Juried Art Exhibit, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
2018 Recollections, Montpelier Gallery Laurel, Maryland
2017 History and Memories, Indiana University
2016 Chasing Ghosts, Verum Ultimum Portland, OR
Cabribe Celebration, Pepco Gallery, Washington, DC
Artist in Residency, Wesley theological Seminary, Washington, DC
Alchemical Vessels, Joan Hisaoka Gallery, Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts
100 Years, One Hundred Artists, Arts Club of Washington.
2015 Artist Fellows’ Exhibition, Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, DC
Women of Zenith, Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC
Black History Month Commemoration, Shenandoah Council for the Arts, Winchester, VA
21st Annual African American Art Exhibition, The Actors’ Theatre, Louisville, KY (catalogue)
Regional Juried Exhibition, The Hill Center, Washington DC
Millennium Saloon 15t Year Exhibition
Sheroes and Womanists: Exhibit, 26th Annual Porter Colloquium, Howard University, Washington, DC
2014 Out of the Ashes, Pepco Gallery, Washington, DC. Catalogue
Black Creativity, Chicago Museum of Science, and Industry
20th African-American Art Exhibit, Actors’ Theatre, Louisville, Kentucky. Catalogue
Transformative Roots and Ritual Objects, Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC
eMerge Art Fair, Washington D.C.
Alchemical Vessels, Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts, Washington DC Catalogue
2013 Modern Day Oracles, Joan Hisaoka Gallery, Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts
Living Life Like Its Golden, Bowie State University
Souls of Ancestors, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
Sculpture Now, Honfleur Gallery, Washington, DC. Reviewed by Washington Post
Alchemical Vessels, Joan Hisaoka Gallery, Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts Catalogue
In Memory of Harriet, Reginald Lewis Museum of African-American History and Culture, Baltimore, Maryland
Second Regional Biennial Exhibition, Maryland University College Center
2012 Whimsical Chairs, Adobe Gallery, Washington, DC
Elemental Earth, Gloria Sulton Salon
In the Mix, Children’s National Hospital Gallery,
Art Advisory Exhibition, Joan Hisaoka Gallery, Smith Farm Center for Healing
2011 Black Abstraction, Harmony Hall Center for the Arts, Fort Washington, MD
Seventeenth Annual African Art Exhibit, Louisville, Kentucky
Emerging Artists to Watch, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD
Process: Reaffirmation, Hillyer Art Space, Washington, and DC.
2010 Black, D.C. Arts Center. Catalogue.
Our Common Journey, Chevy Chase Community Center, Bethesda, Maryland
Twelve Artists, Twelve Perspectives, Cornerstone Gallery, Washington, DC
Black History Month Exhibition at the Exxon Corporation, Fairfax, Virginia
Black Creativity, The Chicago Museum of Industry and Science, Chicago, Illinois
Signs, Symbols and Word: Thirteenth Anniversary Show, International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC
Walk on the Wild Side, Capitol Hill Arts League, Washington DC
Omnipresent: BADC Group show, The Mandarin Hotel, Washington DC. Catalogue
2009 Migrations, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa,
Transformations, Society of Yoruba Bead Art, Pittsburg, PA. Catalogue
Between East and West, The Millennium Salon, Washington,
Stimulus, Nevin Kelley Gallery, Washington D.C.
Revisions: New Creations from Scrap, San Francisco, CA
2008 One of a Kind, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, DC,
Memories, Duke Ellington School for the Arts, Washington, DC
East of the River, Honfluer Gallery, Washington, DC
Black Matter, Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC
Head, Hands and Heart, Pen and Brush Gallery, New York, New York
Women’s History Month, DC Public Library, Washington, DC
Found Objects, Arlington Public Library, Arlington, Virginia
2007 Pen and Brush Gallery, New York, New York
Erotica Blue, the Graham Collection, Washington DC
East of the River, Opening Show of the Honfluer Gallery, Washington, DC
Nina: Purpose and Promise: Capital Hill Breast Care Center, Washington, DC
Art of the Emerging, Galerie Myrtis, Washington
- Found, The Graham Collection
The Pen and Brush Gallery, Group Show, New York, New York
Conversions, Prince George Community College, Prince George County
Awards/Grants
2020 Jurors’ Choice Award, 4th Biennial Maryland Regional Juried Art Exhibition
Honorable Mention, Black Classism in the Visual Arts
2013-2020 Artist’ Fellowship Award, Arts & Humanities Commission, Washington DC
Juror’s Choice Award, 4th Biennial Maryland Regional Juried Art Exhibit, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
2015-2019 Washington DC Commission on the Ats & Humanities Art Bank
2014 Honorable Mention, 20th Annual African American Art Exhibition, Louisville, KY
2011 Mellon-Oberest Award, 17th Annual African American Art Exhibition, Louisville, KY
2010 Wally Szndler Memorial Award, The Capitol Hill Art League
Public Art Installations
2019 “Across Time & Space: Soul, Spirituality & Religion throughout the African Diaspora” International Conference “African/Diaspora Migrations, Displacements and Movements: Histories, Politics and Poetics”, Howard University
Dr. Carver’s Walking Path, in Alchemy, Howard University Interdisciplinary Research Center
2014 Many Thousand Gone, Clermont Farm, Berryville, VA
Roots, Religion and Resistance, Installation at Slave Quarters, Rotating History Project, Clermont Farm Berryville, Virginia Catalogue
2012 The Guardian at Bloombars, Washington, DC
Studio Residencies
2015 Residency at Wesley Theological Seminary, Luce Center on Arts & Religion, Washington, DC
2014 Selected; unable to attend Arquetopia, Oaxaca, Mexico
2011 Artist Resident and Teacher, Brentwood Art Exchange, Hyattsville, MD
2008 Artist’s Residency, Big Sur Spirit Garden Gallery, Big Sur California
Permanent Collections
Neil and Juanita Hartsberger
Joseph and Sharon Holston
Diane and Cornell Whitfield
Mel and Juanita Hardy
Art Bank, Commission on the Arts and Humanities Washington, DC
Reviews/Write-ups
2014 Review of Testament, @ No. VA. Community College Washington Post
2013 `Exploring the Art of Anne Bouie, Audjoa Burrows, Corcoran Museum, Washington, DC
Review of Sculpture Now exhibit, Washington Post
2010 Reclaiming Those Negative Images, Roll Call February16, 2010,
2006 Exhibit Eyes Black as the New Black, Roll Call, December 10, 2010
2006 Exhibit at the Graham Collection, Washington Afro-American Press
Papers/Presentations
2020 “Classism as Remembrance and Resistance”, The Society for Classical Studies, Washington DC, January 2020
“Voices from Quarters: on Remembrance & Resistance Stories They Didn’t Tell the WPA”, Without Borders: Tracing the Cultural, Archival &Political African Diaspora, International Gullah Geechee And African Diaspora Conference, March 2020
2019 “The Visual Arts as Tools of Resistance to Enslavement,” First International Gullah-Geechee African Diasporas Conference, South Carolina Costal University, March 2010
“Material Culture and the Visual Arts as Tools of Resistance”. Second Annual Conference, “Enduring Slavery: Resistance, Public Memory, and Transatlantic Archives, Lapidus Center for The Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery, October 2019
The Origins of The Black Church and Resistance to Enslavement in the District of Columbia”. Communities and Characters, Washington Historical Society, November 2019
“Across Time & Space: Soul, Spirituality & Religion throughout the African Diaspora” International Conference “African/Diaspora Migrations, Displacements and Movements: Histories, Politics and Poetics”, Howard University. November 2019
2017 Invited ASWARD Biennial, Seville Spain
XVIII International Conference on African and Afro-American Culture, Santiago, Cuba.
2015 Art and Urban Ministry, Lecture, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington DC
A Loud Silence, Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Conference, Cambridge branch of Chesapeake College, Dorchester County, Maryland
2014 A Loud Silence: The Visual Arts as a Tool of Resistance, Sixth Annual Maroons Conference, and Charlestown, Jamaica
2013 A Loud Silence: Visual Cues on the Underground Railroad in Washington DC and its Environs, DC Humanities Council
2012 Roots and Remembrance, University of Indiana at Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana
Education
Stanford University
PhD. Administration and Policy Analysis, Education
M.A. Secondary Education, Social Studies
M.A. African and African American History
University of California, Riverside, B.A., Sociology
Related Activities and Memberships
2014 As Chair, Arts and Culture Program, Daniel A. Payne Community Development Corporation, Washington DC, created a collaboration to produce Ancestors, Guardians and Guides: Visual Arts Exhibition, Symposium and Pilgrimage to Slave Cemetery, Germantown, MD
Black Artists of Dc
The Washington Sculptors’ Group
2012-13 Secretary, Black Artists of DC
Related Experiences
2018 Mounted the Ante-Bellum Black & Resistance to Enslavement
2014 Produced the Trilogy: Ancestors, Guardians, and Guides: Visual & Literary Arts Exhibition, at Button Farm Living History Project, Germantown, Maryland
