Ann Graves Tanksley

A Pittsburgh and New York resident, Ann Tanksley has enjoyed a long and illustrious professional career. A graduate of Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon) in Pittsburgh, PA she also studied at the Parsons School of Design, the Printmaking Workshop and the New School for Social Research, all located in New York. Tanskley studied under many master artists including Norman Lewis, Balcom Green, Sam Rosenberg, Robert Blackburn and Kathy Carracio.  

Tanskley depicts everyday people in familiar situations in representational oils, watercolor, and with various print techniques. Her style is simple but effective. She often writes poetry before she paints. She writes the poem, which sees in color as well as in words, and then transfers her thoughts and feeling to the canvas.  

Like so many women artists, Ann divided her time between being a mother to her two children, a wife, and an artist. “Tanksley’s work is embodied with the point of view of women,” wrote Patricia Kelley in SunStorm/FineArt, “who are torn between their past and future, and who express all of the emotions of families in reality – love, hate, anger and forgiveness." She has exhibited throughout the world and her work is included in a variety of anthologies and publications.