Road Trip to Flowr of Lyfe

Ann Cohen's 7th book, Road Trip to Eugene - Roberta, Nancy, and Me 2017, details her zany road trip from San Francisco to the Flowr of Lyfe Dispensary/Gallery in Eugene, Oregon with her good friends Roberta, and Nancy. Enjoy this trip with Ann as she beautifully illustrates and navigates her way through the small towns of Weed, Brookings, and the scenic coast of Oregon. Great friends, beautiful art, and rocking music spells fun! - David Peterson

I was born in Chicago in the mid-1900's. From about the age of two I have been peering into books and standing in front of paintings. I didn't always understand why artists were doing what they were doing. Confronting art as a teenager in the fifties-I couldn't see that art for what it was-the blasted fruit of World War II, and a great chasm of grief and confusion now stood between the artist and anything(s)he might attempt to grasp or objectify. Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline-kinetic painters feeling their way forward in a broken world. In the midst of all the angst following the war, in an art environment of Modernism (which was actually over but no one had noticed that yet) my won youthful efforts were somehow most strongly influenced by Western classical art and our innate love of beauty. I could see this beauty mounted like a gem above the stricken world and I could see it recognized and adored in Modigliani, De LaTour, Corot, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Vermeer, Millet, Rodin, Money, Maillol, all strewn together in showplaces of culture, like the grave goods of Europa, showing me qualities, I could revere in a context of magnificent accomplishment. Most of this through the Art Institute of Chicago and through books.

have the passion of the pen to draw the moment and started drawing music and people around the Bay Area in the late 1980's. I've woven my artistic journey around my family and children's school. Thousands of local and well-known bands in and around San Francisco have caught my eye. Since closing my school around 8 years ago, I traveled up the West Coast to British Columbia and then over the pond to Berlin, Paris and beyond to draw whatever sent my pen moving. I take a moment to hear the music dance through me while the hand goes to the paper and logs the moment. I'm always on the hunt for the next draw in restaurants, cafes, clubs, or just wherever I am.

I was born in Chicago in the mid-1900's. From about the age of two I have been peering into books and standing in front of paintings. I didn't always understand why artists were doing what they were doing. Confronting art as a teenager in the fifties-I couldn't see that art for what it was-the blasted fruit of World War II, and a great chasm of grief and confusion now stood between the artist and anything(s)he might attempt to grasp or objectify. Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline-kinetic painters feeling their way forward in a broken world. In the midst of all the angst following the war, in an art environment of Modernism (which was actually over but no one had noticed that yet) my won youthful efforts were somehow most strongly influenced by Western classical art and our innate love of beauty. I could see this beauty mounted like a gem above the stricken world and I could see it recognized and adored in Modigliani, De LaTour, Corot, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Vermeer, Millet, Rodin, Money, Maillol, all strewn together in showplaces of culture, like the grave goods of Europa, showing me qualities, I could revere in a context of magnificent accomplishment. Most of this through the Art Institute of Chicago and through books.