Ann Kipling (photo by Lincoln Clarkes, Vancouver BC, courtesy Marion Scott Gallery)
Ann Kipling, a singularly independent artist who focused almost entirely on drawing during her long career, died Aug. 30 at her home in Vernon, B.C. She was 89.
Robert Kardosh, director of the Marion Scott Gallery, Kipling's Vancouver dealer, called it an "immense loss."
"Her singular practice and her unwavering devotion to a unique way of seeing and interpreting the world have been an inspiration to artists of all generations," he said.
Kipling was born in 1934 in Victoria, and graduated from what is now the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 1960.
"Drawing is exploratory," she once said. "It defines and clarifies a visual idea. It is also the delight in mark making, the magical connection between things seen and described, the direct encounter."
Kipling and her husband, the late ceramic artist Leonhard Epp, lived in B.C.'s Lower Mainland before relocating to the province's interior in the early 1970s, eventually settling on a rural property in Falkland.
Kipling remained there for some 45 years, hiking regularly into the hills above her home where she would sit for hours sketching scenic vistas. She built her images through an accumulation of ethereal marks, charting subtle changes in the environment.
Kipling is also known for sketches of people and goats.
Her work has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions, including a 1995 retrospective at the Vancouver Art Gallery. In 2004, she was the first recipient of the Audain Prize for lifetime achievement. Her drawings and prints are included in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Audain Art Museum in Whistler, B.C.
Source: Marion Scott Gallery