Divine Resilience – Anna Kincaide – Ep 85

I love artists whose work compels me to go deeper. That’s exactly how I felt the first time I saw one of Anna Kincaide’s figurative abstract paintings. Anna has devoted her life to the study of women and expressing the female experience through her artwork. Join us as we discuss overcoming artistic burnout, creating a sustainable art practice, the role of gender in the art journey, connecting with purpose, and using vulnerable authenticity to go deeper.

Listen if you are interested in…

• Anna’s art practice and the study of women [1:54]
• Overcoming artistic burnout and creating a sustainable art practice  [11:05]
• The role of gender in the art journey [20:10]
• How Anna uses sameness and humanity to go deeper in her work [28:40]
• Finding purpose and providence in our art  [37:18]
• Anna’s insight on staying sustainably grounded through adversity [44:51]

The strength of flowers

Anna Kincaide has studied the female form since she was a child, but it wasn’t until 2008 that she left her museum design job and plunged into the world of fine art. She dove into the study of women but avoided a facial identity in her subjects when she first started painting. Anna wanted to keep their faces obscured to include an element of relatability for the viewer so that they see themselves or someone they know versus the portrait of a stranger. Floral headdresses aid the subject’s anonymity as a representation of the female psyche and an explosion of everything women feel and go through. Anna uses these elements because women are the personification of a flower’s ability to fight and grow with beauty, strength, and resilience. And in a time when female empowerment is at a record high, her work couldn’t be more necessary.

Breaking through the breakdown

As an artist whose work speaks so much about resilience, it’s no wonder that Anna has had to face personal and professional challenges of her own. Like many just beginning the professional art journey, she had an insatiable desire to sell her work. Everything she did was a calculated move to increase her exposure. After a decade in fine art, Anna found herself doing show after show, with work she was no longer passionate about, churning out paintings to meet deadlines. 

Eventually, she hit a wall that felt insurmountable. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever paint again. For the first time in her life, she started to ask: Who am I? What kind of art do I want to create? Why am I making it? Questions that have become critical to what we do at Art2Life. And in that journey of self-discovery, she found her “come from”. She slowly started to paint for the sake of enjoyment again and found new work that has evolved into the incredible art she makes today. But none of that breakthrough happens without her commitment to show up and find her way through adversity.

Compelled to grow

Without momentum, breakdowns are inevitable. Truthfully, they are inevitable either way. But the more committed we are to our art-making process, the easier they are to navigate. For Anna, showing up and getting out of her comfort zones feels more like a compulsion than a decision. Once she started painting, it was like all other options vanished. She credits the always-evolving quality of her work to the innate instinct to push herself. Anna knows the second she becomes bored with her work, it’s over. So much of her art practice is designed to keep her engaged, curious, and ever-redefining what’s possible for her art. Listen to this episode for more on Anna and her incredible work!

Resources & People Mentioned

• Milt Kobayashi (Artist)

Connect with Anna Kincaide

• Visit Anna’s website 
• Follow Anna on Instagram 

Connect with Nicholas Wilton and Art2Life

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