Starting with her initial art competition in 1972, Ann James Massey has received recognition and won awards for her layered black wax pencil drawings.

 

In 1990, she began complementing her precise drawings with equally detailed paintings (utilizing traditional techniques including grinding her own paints, starting with a burnt umber first layer, followed by three or more layers of colour, etc.) that immediately followed the same award winning and recognition path. Her drawings and paintings have consistently won awards in exhibitions and competitions throughout the world including New York and London.

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Born in Evanston, Illinois and raised in El Paso, Texas in the USA, Massey also owned and operated The Montwood Gallery in El Paso from 1974 to 1978 and Massey Fine Arts in Santa Teresa, New Mexico from 1992 to 1994. At the latter, she created and judged two national exhibitions: “Realism up Close” and "Masters of Colored Pencil" (the first exhibition in the world solely dedicated to coloured pencil).

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In 1994, she closed her second gallery and moved to Paris, France in order to devote more time to her art career, growth and opportunities. Massey was invited to become a full member into the SWA in 1997 and was twice the recipient of the Barbara Tate Award for an Oil Painting chosen by Barbara Tate herself. In 2003, she was included by The Art Renewal Center as a Living Master among the initial 34 international artists so chosen.

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Massey’s work is in collections around the world and has been shown in over a dozen books and numerous publications including The Artist's Magazine (US edition), American Artist, International Artist, etc. In addition to the SWA, her memberships include among others: The American Artists Professional League (Fellow Maxima Cum Laude status), Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, Colored Pencil Society of America (Charter and Signature Member), and the United Kingdom Coloured Pencil Society (Charter, Signature Member, first President 2004 - 2010).