Faith Ann Gilbert is an American painter born and raised in Battle Creek Michigan. Themes commonly explored in her work include multiple positions of intense emotion shown through lyrical abstraction and at times literal interpretations. There tends to be a battle, or a conflict between darkness and light and surface and depth brought about by layers of paint from high texture to glass like atmospheric surfaces. Process exploration and material experimentation are constants in her practice with risk being a quest of extreme importance. Every piece is a unique conclusion of the endless exploration of themes and processes developed in her everyday studio work.
Faith pursued a professional dance career before returning to college in the late nineties. At an early age Faith was drawing and dancing; she seemed to be the only artist in a family full of athletes. She had expressed frequently throughout her life, “I will either be an artist, or a dancer, or both”. After high school Faith pursued her passion for dance, and briefly performed professionally with a traveling troop out of Las Vegas, which took her to various destinations including Osaka Japan.
After strong encouragement from her professors in Kalamazoo, Faith applied to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was accepted. In 2000 she moved to Chicago to attend SAIC and studied under prestigious artist professors: Judith Geichman, Frank Piatek, Roxie Tremonto, Marion Kryczka, Karl Wirsum, Phillip Hanson and Michiko Itatani. While attending SAIC Faith fulfilled an artist residency at the Three Arts Club of Chicago; she received numerous awards for her work in college. Faith was accepted to the highly competitive Advanced Painting Studio Program at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she had her own studio along side eleven studio mates.
After graduation Faith married fellow artist, Andrew Ryan Robb whom she had met in college and together they share a fully equipped live/ work studio first located in Printers Row, South Loop, Chicago 2004 and then in September of 2015 the two moved their studios to the Pikes Peak area of Colorado. Faith has shown frequently throughout the years in galleries and alternative spaces. She continues to develop an exciting and dynamic body of work with multiple on going series along side many commissions from which many private collectors have purchased and have shown through out the world.