Ann Leda Shapiro

Ann Leda Shapiro – Artist Statement

Ann grew up in NYC, near the Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
She spent the sixties in San Francisco, attended art school, protested the Vietnam War and participated in feminist consciousness raising groups.

This set the stage for merging activism and personal content within her art.
Ann lived on a desert ranch in Arizona, a miner’s cabin in Colorado and sailed around the world for semester-at-sea program.

Ann volunteered at an AIDS clinic in Texas and was introduced to Chinese medicine. This sparked a lifelong direction integrating art and healing. Inspired to research and illustrate Chinese medical history, Ann enrolled in acupuncture school, became a board certified acupuncturist and has practiced Chinese medicine for almost thirty years.

Her art reflects cross-cultural perspectives, interweaving environmental issues, science and medicine and autobiographical emotional states. Ann has traveled from Europe to Viet Nam to Vashon Island where she maintains an art studio in the shadow of Mount Rainier.