For the upcoming exhibition Anne Havens / Sue Havens, we’re collecting thoughts, reflections, and words of gratitude. Throughout her long and prolific art career, Anne and her artwork have touched many in the Rochester community. Has Anne’s work influenced you? Tell us about your experience.
*Responses collected from this form may be used in the exhibition or related materials.
About Anne Havens
Anne Havens (born 1941 in Los Angeles, California) is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Rochester, New York. She earned a BA from Stanford University in 1963, where she studied history and foreign languages. She has pursued additional study at Académie Julian in Paris, Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Memorial Art Gallery’s Creative Workshop, though she describes her work is largely self-directed and intuitive. Havens works across a wide array of media, including sculpture, print making, drawing, ceramics, photography, video and artist’s books. Much of her art is inspired by an exploration of materials, ideas, and the creative process itself. Her practice often reflects a playful curiosity and an engagement with both formal and conceptual concerns. Anne’s work weaves metaphor, found objects and recurring motifs into a visual language that speaks to both intimate experience and shared human concerns, moving fluently between whimsy and depth, with occasional references to history and literature appearing throughout. Anne Haven’s work has been featured in a range of group exhibitions including: 4th Rochester Biennial, Memorial Art Gallery (2010), The Upstate Invitational, Rochester Contemporary Art Center (2007), Tower Fine Arts Gallery, State University of New York at Brockport (1998),Schweinfurth Art Center (2007), Nan Miller Gallery (1997). Solo exhibitions include: Dyer Art Center, National Technical Institute of the Deaf (2005). Mercer Gallery, Monroe Community College, Rochester (1999), Houghton House Gallery at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY, (1997) Oxford Gallery (1995) among others.
About Anne Havens
In Rochester’s art community, Havens is recognized both for her creative output, and her role is a supporter of other artists, especially young and emerging artists. For many years, Anne welcomed into her shared studio, numerous artists to collaborate and create a vital and generous shared space within Anderson Alley Arts Building. The artist has had a career long engagement with printmaking through her own work, exploring all different print media in participation with the Rochester Print Club. She directed the Anne Havens Gallery from 1984 to 1988, beginning with the work of her father in law Jim Havens and his contemporaries, and evolving into a collection that included folk art and an eclectic array of fine art and objects.
Anne’s involvement at Rochester Contemporary Art Center has been decades long including: exhibiting in numerous group projects and Members Exhibitions; volunteering and helping to design and plan the first 6 x 6 exhibition; sponsoring the annual Bill Havens Award, in memory of her late son. Along with her late husband, Stewart Davis, they donated countless artworks by local and national artists, prompting RoCo to establish the Davis-Havens fundraising sales gallery.
This exhibition is presented alongside the exhibition "Anne Havens: Echoes and Variations" at MCC’s Mercer Gallery