Ann Chester King lives and works in Devon working on community and individual projects as well as her own paintings.
Community work with a range of different groups has been an interest to Ann over many years and have developed in the last five years. Whilst still working with vulnerable groups in the Criminal Justice System Ann painted a body of work Justice - Lets Face (2017) in response to the emotional difficulties experienced by all involved in the justice process. This project was then extended when Ann was given the opportunity in collaboration with the Judiciary at Plymouth Crown Court and Plymouth Art School. Ann worked with students to produce work informed by several court visits and for an exhibition held in the public areas of the Court-the first court in the UK to do so.
In 2019 Ann joined the arts and culture group of Dartmouth 400 (part of the Mayflower 2020 project) to engage local children’s’ groups to be involved in a variety of creative projects to gain insight into the experience of the ‘child pilgrims’ and parallels with other children who have crossed continents as a result of events beyond their control. Sadly, much of the project was stalled as a result of the pandemic but plans are still in place for an exhibition when the situation allows.
Since the beginning 2020, Ann has produced and facilitating a series of art workshops for Somerset Recovery College which is a part of Somerset Health and Mental Well Being (NHS) providing creative opportunities for adults recovering and living with mental illness.
Ann works in a variety of mediums: photography, painting and print making. Ann is both a landscape and figurative artist. Her work has been shown widely in the south west and exhibited regularly at the Woman Artists shows in London and the Royal West of England Academy.
