musetouch_issue_11

Mary Jane Ans
Who are you Mary Jane?
I’m a figurative painter, living and working in Brighton, on the South coast of England with
my partner of 22 years, Richard and two black cats. I divide my time between work for solo
and group shows and on commissioned work.
How did you feel that art was your path in life?
I have no conscious memory of “deciding to be an artist” it was always just what I did with
most of my time - still is. My father is a superb draftsman, when he turns his hand to it, and
his mother went to The Slade, going on to work as a portrait painter during the 1950’s so it
always seemed a perfectly natural path for me to pursue and I’m lucky in that it’s one that my
family have always supported.
Could you tell us some more about your art?
Although I’ve been doing this for quite a few years now, I didn’t show my work for much of
that time, until I felt it was at a certain level, I don’t feel the need to rush at it all at least not
these days! I still feel very much that I’m just starting out - in the larger scheme of things this
is a lifetime pursuit - and beyond! It concerns me when I see painters whose work finds a motif
then follows an absolute pattern, not evolving on at all - that’s certainly not what I’m trying
to do - I may well be fascinated by one model, narrative, even medium and want to concentrate
on them for a while but my interests are much broader than that. I actually find my
portrait work to be really useful in that regard - it leads me into work I would not necessarily
have tackled at that point. I’m fascinated by all sorts of faces, almost every one whets my appetite
in one way or another - they’d all present a different challenge and that always pushes
me to try something different each time - definitely a good thing!
What are your inspirations?
Inspiration comes to me in many ways and on many levels. For example, I have two huge sets
of shelves in my living room and they’re filled with books and objects that I’ve collected over
time, perhaps with still lifes in mind, or just that fascinate me in some way. Very recently I
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