Exploring human relationships with both the natural world and the technological world that we have constructed, Ann Schwab’s work utilizes photography, mixed media, installation, audio and video to illuminate the conflation of these two worlds.

The natural environment often plays the role of a medicament in Schwab’s work. The beauty of nature functions as a root of strength, resurrecting the spirit. The existence of beauty is tenuous. The existence of the fragile natural world is a testament to its resiliency and power.

Schwab enjoys exploring the latent metaphors inherent within objects and the endeavor of creating relationships between seemingly disparate elements. Through multiples or installation, by pairing photographs with audio, sculptural objects or adding mixed media, conversations emerge between components, changing or amplifying the meanings of singular parts.

A NOCCA alum, Ann Schwab received her B.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art, an M.F.A. from Tulane University and has studied at SACI in Florence, Italy. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including: a Maryland State Arts Council Fellowship, a Louisiana Division of the Arts Fellowship, a Surdna Foundation Fellowship and professional development grants from the Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation, the Creative Capital Foundation, the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Anderson Ranch and the Surdna Foundation. Ann Schwab’s works have been exhibited nationally and internationally, are held in corporate, private and the State of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans collections.

Assistant Chair of Visual Arts at NOCCA, Ms. Schwab was selected in 2016 to join the ART21 Educator network, an innovative group of educators who enact creative strategies for teaching and learning with contemporary art. Ann Schwab has been honored three times in Who’s Who Among American Teachers, and has received Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for Teaching and recognition by the National Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in the Arts.

Her professional website is: http://www.annschwab.com