AN MOM
N PROFI
M LE:
Ar ie
Co ol
ic k
TEXT Colleen McGrew
10 March 2016 washingtonFAMILY.com



T
he morning light casts a warm glow as it
shines through the rear window of Ann
Marie Coolick’s top-floor home studio,
resting on the blank canvas in front of
her. She appreciates the rare silence and lack of
boisterous vibration in the house. It’s one of the
coveted daily moments when her three young sons
are either napping or at school, allowing her to
paint without interruption.

Ann Marie’s three-dimensional, sculptural
paintings fill the studio space — some hang as
decoration, some rest against the clean, white
walls. The “frosting-like” paintings, known as
an impasto style, reflect memories of her favorite
landscapes and geometric shapes, many inspired
by the foliage in her Arlington, VA, neighborhood.

Before she became the artist she is today, Ann
Marie found a creative outlet in music. She began
playing piano at the young age of five and credits
it to the beginning of her passion for the arts.

“Music laid the foundation for a creative life early
on. I started taking piano lessons at age 5 and
always thought I would major in music until I
found painting through an amazing high school art
teacher,” she says.

She earned both a Studio Art and Marketing Management
degree from Virginia Tech, and by the next year, she
was awarded a studio residency at the Arlington Arts
Center. Since that first opportunity, her artwork has been
exhibited at several local galleries, appeared in Creative
Digest UK and Elan Magazine and has been featured at
Home Goods.

Although she has a part-time job with the federal
government and provides private tutoring in her home
studio, her artwork always has and continues to be her
main career focus, balanced with a busy family life.“Being
an artist mom is definitely a balancing act that has
required extreme measures in time management. Since
I’m home with my kids most of the week, they come with
me to visit galleries, they play in the studio while I paint
and they ride along in the double jogging stroller while we
deliver work to the post office. They know that mommy
is an artist and they are always giving me input on which
paintings they do and don’t like. I love their honesty and
unique interpretations of my abstract work!”
Her hard work ethic, natural creativity and skilled
multitasking have all played their parts in allowing her to
enjoy her favorite part about being an artist. “I love that
my work makes people happy. I’m amazed that the spark
I feel when creating a great piece of art is also felt by my
collectors. Nothing is better than that.”
Q&A: What’s it like working as an artist in
the D.C. area?
The art scene in the D.C. area has changed
dramatically over the past five years with the advent
of social media. There is a huge society of previously
unnoticed creatives in our area, many with typical
D.C.-area day jobs, who have come together through
social media. Since becoming part of A Creative
DC, an Instagram-centric project celebrating and
showcasing creative life in the area, I’ve stepped
outside of my introverted box and collaborated
with a local photographer, curated an exhibit
of four women painters and found new gallery
representation. I truly am amazed!
What are some memorable moments in
your art career?
Every summer as a young girl, I visited Smith
Mountain Lake in Moneta, VA, where we often
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