Greenwood Lake Public Library’s Art Gallery is present the work of Anna Karen Clemmensen during January

GREENWOOD LAKE — Greenwood Lake Public Library’s Art Gallery will present the work of the late artist Anna Karen Clemmensen, courtesy of her sister Margaret Fox.
A native of Oakland, California, and graduate of Holy Names High School, Clemmensen was a former East Bay figurative painter with a scholarship to California College of Arts and Crafts and a degree in art history from U.C. Berkeley.
Furthering her craft, she embarked on an intense course of self-instruction by working with professional models, then studying master paintings in Paris, Vienna, London and Copenhagan.
She returned to Holy Names High School to teach beginning through advanced art.
Known for museum-quality portrait paintings that combine both realism and expressionistic personal statements, Clemmensen spent many years painting commissioned portraits. She has painted commemorative portraits of several Bay Area civic leaders, including Oakland Mayor Lionel Wilson and San Francisco’s Dr. Rose Resnick, founder of the Rose Resnick Center for the Blind and Handicapped.
Her style, strongly connected with 19th Century music, led her to admire the world renowned pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy.
This admiration inspired Clemmensen to write to his publisher expressing interest in a creating a charcoal drawing of the artist and gifting it to Ashkenazy as a token of artistic esteem.
When Ashkenazy saw the photograph, he mailed Clemmensen a postcard saying he liked it.
In 1987, Ashkenazy was scheduled to appear in San Francisco for a benefit concert, and his agent arranged a meeting with the Ashkenazys. On seeing the original artwork, they were even more taken with it. They felt it was perfect for the forthcoming Rachmaninoff album and arranged for Clemmensen to meet them in London, then accompany them to Lucerne to develop a series of family portraits.
About the Ashkenazy portrait, Clemmensen has said, “It was a dream I’d never even dared to dream, to be able to paint another artist whose work has been a primary influence in my life.”
During Clemmensen’s short life (Sept. 13, 1960 - Jan. 31, 2008), she was a gifted artist and poet of great vision, sensitivity, and talent. Her significant life work included art shows, commissioned portraits, numerous drawing and sketches ranging from landscapes to unique and tender representations of her beloved pet rabbits.
For more information, call the library at (845) 477-8377.