After graduating from Miami University in 1984 with a BFA, Ann Gorbett found her way to Boston where she has lived for 30 years working for the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Now a full time painter, Gorbett’s work can be seen at The Artist’s Studio & Gallery at Patriot Place in Foxboro, MA and The Red Inn in Provincetown, MA. Her work can also be seen online by following her blog: anngorbett.blogspot.com, on Facebook: Ann Gorbett Palette Knife Paintings, and on Instagram: @anngorbett.
I enjoy recreating old family photos as oil paintings as a way of capturing the period fashions, the architecture, the furnishings, and the memories from these nostalgic times. This painting was inspired by a 1970s family photograph of my mother and two friends at a holiday gathering. I found the photo among our family’s many photo albums and it reminded me our home in Cleveland and the living room that we were only allowed to use when company came over. The 3 gold keys on the wall were one of my mother’s favorite decorating elements (she was a Kappa at Miami as was I) and they moved with us where ever we went.
