After nine months of consistent work, Ann Wirtz, Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy (DPEA) art teacher, has opened her first solo art exhibition, “Limitless.” The art series is divided into two different themes — “Emergence” and “Life Lines.” Wirtz said the exhibition explores connection and possibility.
“It’s a big deal because I haven’t ever created this large of a body of work at once,” Wirtz said. “I was limited on space, and now I have a larger studio where I could paint.”
According to Wirtz, the idea for the exhibition came to her while she was on a walk. She was listening to a podcast, which kept mentioning “limitless ideas and limitless possibilities.” Inspired, Wirtz decided to challenge herself to explore the idea of possibility without restricting herself to societal expectations.
“I wanted to paint large, because I wanted it to be more body movement as opposed to little hand movement,” Wirtz said. “A lot of it starts with … me splashing paint all around — ink, running drips, splattering the paint, layering down texture with gel medium.”
The process leaves Wirtz’s paintings highly textured, featuring elements of impasto, sgraffito, raised patterns, and underlying layers of lettering and collage. Wirtz added she uses texture to add “depth and playful graphic qualities” to her paintings, experimenting with shape and value in order to complete her compositions.
“Life is not always really smooth, so we always have our lumps and bumps that we take with us,” Wirtz explained.
Wirtz said her biggest challenge was finding time to work in her studio after teaching all day and taking care of her family. She often painted on weekends. Overall, she said her experience taught her self-forgiveness.
“[I learned to] offer myself some grace,” Wirtz said. “I think it’s translating more into my teaching for students who are trying really hard and [are] perfectionists.”
Initially, Wirtz didn’t think people would attend her opening reception on Saturday, May 2, but she said the event had a strong turnout. After having created the paintings and hosted her reception, Wirtz said she hopes people leave with a sense of persistence through hard things and a deeper understanding of connections.
“You can do whatever you put your mind to,” Wirtz said. “You just have to kind of sludge through it sometimes, and you never know what people are gonna think.”
For the “Emergence” series, Wirtz did not plan out any of the figures. Instead, she allowed the figures to form on their own, relying on intuition rather than reference photos.
Wirtz took inspiration from her family’s travels for some of the pieces in the “Life Lines” series — memories of things they’d done or pictures her children took. Wirtz began to think about the interconnectedness of people and their stories through
every interaction, no matter how small.
“We’re all connected, and whether you’re just walking by somebody or you’re sitting down having a conversation with them or you’re next to each other on a subway … we all have our own stories,” Wirtz said.
For example, Wirtz created her piece “Mind the Gap” after riding the London Underground transit in London, England. There, she had observed passengers keeping a distance from each other, including one woman staring off into space.
“[I] was kind of wondering, ‘Are you going home from work?’ ‘What are you thinking about?’” Wirtz said. “‘Are you even noticing that I’m noticing you?’”
Still, Wirtz said she enjoys leaving her work up for interpretation. During her opening reception, she observed people pointing out details in her work and noting its familiarity to their life or elements that they resonated with.
“It doesn’t have to always be internally me in the works,” Wirtz said. “Now it’s open to interpretation, and I love that.”
Wirtz’s art journey began in third grade, when a teacher introduced her class to art. Later, while attending Dos Pueblos High School, Wirtz transferred out of Spanish 3 and into Advanced Placement Art, having been disinterested in the former class. She eventually graduated college with a graphic design degree.
Having always gravitated towards project-based learning and having already worked for Fortune 500 companies, Wirtz got her teaching credential and joined DPEA to promote hands-on experiences.
“I think it’s really important for students to get the hands-on experience, because maybe if you’re at a theory-based college, you might not get that hands-on experience until later,” Wirtz said. “It’s engaging to the students to be more hands-on. So, the engineering academy … that’s what they do.”
In the future, Wirtz said she hopes to open her studio to the public and create a space where people can explore their creativity. She said she would like to host classes where people can “experience some fun and community,” especially during times of hardship.
“I think students should just pursue their passions and try to do the things that they think are hard, because little by little, you’ll chip away at [them] and you achieve your goals,” Wirtz said.
Wirtz’s exhibition is open throughout May at Gallery Los Olivos.
