Anne Besse-Shepherd is a landscape painter based on Martha’s Vineyard. Anne received her undergraduate degree in studio art from Skidmore College and then earned an MFA in Goldsmithing from the University of Washington. For 30 years she ran Chrysalis Designs,designing and fabricating one-of-a-kind and limited production fine art jewelry. Anne was the recipient of a Ford Foundation grant and her work is a part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institution as well as a number of other organizations.
After selling Chrysalis Designs she began to experiment with pastel painting and then subsequently oils. She quickly developed a passion for landscape painting in oils both in her studio and en plein air. While she was happily retired from the jewelry business Anne still needed a creative outlet. When her mother (well known Island artist Virginia Weston Besse)passed away Anne brought home some of her mother’s painting supplies. She quickly developed a new passion for oil painting landscapes both in her studio and en plein air. Anne frequently uses her kayak to explore the ponds, harbors, and coastlines of the Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. This allows her to explore areas that most people rarely get to see and provide an unusual perspective looking from the water toward land.
