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ANNE HAYDEN STEVENS
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ANNE HAYDEN STEVENS
Exhibitions
Current
Paintings
Work Installed
Events
About
Exhibitions
Current
Paintings
Work Installed
Events
About
Through, for Philip (Copy)

Through, for Philip

65×60” oil on canvas

Through, for Philip (detail) (Copy)

Through, for Philip (detail)

Detail of small figure pulling another person in a rubber raft into a canyon. Detail is approx. 30×24”

Looking over the Wall (Copy)

Looking over the Wall

10×8” oil on panel, 2025

This walled garden has a damp, dark, heavy wall, one that suggests a long duration holding the garden in and the outside world out.

Nocturne, The Family (Copy)

Nocturne, The Family

60×48” oil on canvas
2026
private collection

Looking over the Wall (side view) (Copy)

Looking over the Wall (side view)

10×8” oil on panel, 2025

In the Walled Garden (Copy)

In the Walled Garden

10×8” oil on panel, 2025

I am making a series of paintings about walled gardens, following a visit to the Huntington. Their garden is surrounded by a thick white wall, and you traverse a beautiful patterned stone path up down and around the vistas. What is the role of a walled garden in the lives of women who were hobbled intentionally?

An interesting thing about beauty is its depth. Things are arresting because of the pain and complexity they express. We sit with their beauty at the same time as we sit with the power structures that brought them into the world. It's impossible to reconcile.

In the Walled Garden (side view) (Copy)

In the Walled Garden (side view)

10×8” oil on panel, 2025

Stevens-getting-a-boost.jpg
The Walled Garden, Cad Yellow (Copy)

The Walled Garden, Cad Yellow

24×18” oil on panel
2026

Leaving the Walled Garden (Copy)

Leaving the Walled Garden

10×8” oil on panel, 2025

The walled garden is an apt metaphor for women’s lives, throughout history and into the present day. While women have gradually increasing access to power, the continual effort of working our way out of our (sometimes beautiful) cages is a toll that women carry silently.

The new fence (Copy)

The new fence

10×8” oil on panel, 2025

Putting up new fences in the walled garden.

Nocturne, Summer Dusk (Copy)

Nocturne, Summer Dusk

60×48” oil on canvas
2026
private collection

Nocturne, for Holling (Copy)

Nocturne, for Holling

60×48” oil on canvas
2026

A series of these paintings of Nocturnes is unfolding over this year. They explore the notion of empty space and solitude being empty and full at the same time. They reference both Tonalism and color field painting, as well as painting prompts from the Song Dynasty.

The Philosopher Sets Off (Copy)

The Philosopher Sets Off

Oil on canvas, 65×60”. 2025

Self Portrait as a Mountain (Copy)

Self Portrait as a Mountain

Oil on canvas, 60×48”. 2025

This painting shows two figures in conversation, while trees, as if after a flood, stream alongside their bodies/the mountains.

Self Portrait as a Mountain, detail (Copy)

Self Portrait as a Mountain, detail

full painting is 60×48”, oil on canvas, 2025. Detail here is roughly 30×30”.

This painting shows two figures in conversation, while trees, as if after a flood, stream alongside their bodies/the mountains.

Nocturne (Copy)

Nocturne

Oil on canvas, 60×48”. 2025 Available through slip house

Our Self Portrait as a Mountain (Copy)

Our Self Portrait as a Mountain

48×36” oil on panel 2025

High Distance, She Goes (Copy)

High Distance, She Goes

24×18” oil on panel
2025

The high distance is a construct from Song dynasty painting, used to suggest being able to see the full height of a mountain in a painting, while also experiencing entry points at a middle distance and a level distance. From a western optical perspective this is wonderfully impossible, except at great distance. I love the emotional resonance of climbing a full mountain in a painting.

Leaving, the High Distance (Copy)

Leaving, the High Distance

24×18” oil on panel
2025

High Distance, Eucalyptus (Copy)

High Distance, Eucalyptus

24×18” Oil on panel
2026

Many of the mountain paintings I make end up referencing a California foothill I have climbed countless times. This one conjures up the heat, shade, and perfume of the eucalyptus groves halfway up the hill, which then gives way to coastal scrub. In California there is no greater sign of the hubris of Manifest Destiny than the invasive eucalytpus, highly flammable and useless for its intended purpose: 19th c. railroad ties.

The High Distance, Eucalyptus (Copy)

The High Distance, Eucalyptus

detail 3×5”

24×18” Oil on panel
2026

Someone coming up the path greets a new baby being carried down the path.

The High Distance, Cad Red (Copy)

The High Distance, Cad Red

20×16” oil on panel
2026

Italian Walk, Via Appia - The Toy (Copy)

Italian Walk, Via Appia - The Toy

Oil on panel, 36×36”. 2024.
A child throwing a weight on a string walking along the Via Appia at dusk.

Italian Walk, Via Appia (Copy)

Italian Walk, Via Appia

48×36” oil on panel with cold wax varnish. 2024.
A painting of the Vestals and visitors resting at an imagined retreat along the via Appia in ancient Rome.

Through, Spring (Copy)

Through, Spring

48×36” oil on panel, 2024.

Through, Early Spring (Copy)

Through, Early Spring

48×36” oil on canvas, 2025

The Philosopher and her Child walk home (Copy)

The Philosopher and her Child walk home

48x36" oil on panel, 2023.

Self Portrait as a Mountain, Loving (Copy)

Self Portrait as a Mountain, Loving

48×36” oil on panel, 2025

This painting is a bit of an oddball, and I love it.

Through, Together (Copy)

Through, Together

2024, Oil on panel 20×16” available through slip house

SP as a Mountain, Thicket (Copy)

SP as a Mountain, Thicket

24×18” oil on panel, 2025

Girl's Night, Coast (Copy)

Girl's Night, Coast

12x16” oil on panel

The Mountains (Copy)

The Mountains

30x22" oil on paper, 2023.

The Conversation (Copy)

The Conversation

30x22" oil on paper, 2023.

The Guides (Copy)

The Guides

30x22" oil on paper, 2023.

The Journey (Copy)

The Journey

30x22" oil on paper, 2023.

Philosophers in the Clearing (Copy)

Philosophers in the Clearing

20x16" oil on panel, 2024.

The Philosophers Confer (Copy)

The Philosophers Confer

24x18" oil on panel, 2024.

The Walled Garden, Cad Yellow (Copy)

The Walled Garden, Cad Yellow

24×18” oil on panel
2026

Getting a Boost (Copy)

Getting a Boost

12x12” oil on panel, 2025

The walled garden is an apt metaphor for women’s lives, throughout history and into the present day. While women have gradually increasing access to power, the continual effort of working our way out of our cages is a toll that women carry silently. In this painting, Getting a boost, one woman boosts another over the wall of a garden on the right side of the painting.