A n n a G l y n n
Filled with an abundance of curiosity, I have a lifelong passion for investigating the complex relationships between humans, history, nature, land, place, the physical and the ephemeral. As a wonder-filled child, watercolour was one of my first loves and has carried into my adult career where the physical act of water and paint, the alchemy and magic of creating, observing and imagining takes over.
A Dharawal-based multidisciplinary artist whose rainforest home is situated below the steep cliffs of the Illawarra escarpment in New South Wales, Anna Glynn works in the media of painting, drawing, video, sculpture, installation, photography, writing, music, sound, as well as undertaking international interdisciplinary collaborations between art and science.
Awarded a Bachelor of Education, Melbourne College of Advanced Education, majoring in Sculpture and Painting, she has exhibited in Japan, Estonia, USA, Sweden, Norway, Hong Kong and China.
Winner of the 2023 International Women’s Day Art Award, Glynn has been a finalist in the Lethbridge Landscape Prize; Halloran Contemporary Art Prize; Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize; Alice Prize and Goulburn Art Award. Moreover, she was a finalist in the Australian Arts in Asia Awards, which recognised Australian artists engaging in Asia to promote broader cultural links.
She has been awarded artist-in-residencies in the Dry Tortugas Islands, USA; the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Oregon, USA; ARNA Art and Nature, Sweden; Gento Art Foundation, Kyoto, Japan and Khmessen (Arthouse Messen) International Artist Residency, Hardangerfjord, Norway.
Glynn’s commissions include the European Union funded Art, Ecology & Science Project, USA, Sweden and Australia (2018), Regional Futures (2023) and The Art of Threatened Species in Australia (2020). In 2020-2021, Glynn’s Promiscuous Provenance exhibition toured to ten galleries in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT with the support of the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program.
Fusing Chinese traditional ink painting techniques with a Western aesthetic, she developed a singular contemporary watercolour style, utilizing the natural character of the materials to create a narrative of contemporary myths and characters. Her abiding interest in Chinese art and culture has attracted invitations and support from Austrade, DFAT, Asia Link, and Australia China Council for participation in residencies, exhibitions and collaborations in China and Hong Kong. Notably, Glynn’s Hidden Worlds exhibition in Beijing was included by the Australian Embassy in the 40th anniversary celebration of Australia-China diplomatic relations.
Her work is held in private and public collections in Australia and abroad, including Parliament House, Canberra; National Museum of Australia, Canberra; Shoalhaven City Art Collection; Art Gallery of Ballarat; the Kedumba Collection of Australian Drawings and the Geneto Art Foundation, Japan.
Anna Glynn was elected a member of the Australian Watercolour Institute in 2025.