Ann Parsons Odum
Photo courtesy of Mary Buck
Ann Parsons Odum started her art career late in life. Since she had 4 children and worked full-time in her family department stores she decided to take the Famous Artist correspondence course and feels that it gave her a great basic background. After that she studied with different teachers in oils and acrylics, but it wasn’t until 1984 that she discovered her true medium- pastels. She worked with Phillip Lekki, an internationally known pastellist, for several years and has taken workshops from many famous artist including Alan Flatman, Flora Grufuni, Ray Perotti, and Albert Handell.
Ann is a juried Member of Excellence in the South East Pastel Society and has won awards in their international shows. Her work has been featured in calendars and on the covers of the Duluth Fall Festival Tabloid for many years. She was voted best artist in Gwinnett. Ann says that she is really famous “ for about l square mile.” She is a member of the Kudzu Art Zone and was thrilled to win second place in their first art show.
In her early painting years Ann concentrated on historic paintings of Duluth and surrounding area. She has truly saved on canvas a little country town that is now metropolitan Atlanta suburbia. “I painted around Duluth because I loved it. Little did I know that most of the things I painted would be gone so soon?”
Although Ann still does some local paintings, she is branching out now into more impressionistic and multi-media work. She is retired now and the best day of her week is when a group of artist meets at her house for a whole day of painting. I am so thrilled about my future as an artist. Since retirement Ann has worked on Murals at Duluth First Methodist Church, Gwinnett Tech, Southeast Railroad Museum and, her favorite, a mural of Old Duluth on the brick wall of what used to be her family department store, which has been torn down to create Parsons Alley. Her most recent paintings are two four foot by five foot paintings of old Duluth which are hanging in the Old Duluth Depot which is now at the Southeast Railway Museum.
Contact- apodum@ bellsouth.net
Ann is a juried Member of Excellence in the South East Pastel Society and has won awards in their international shows. Her work has been featured in calendars and on the covers of the Duluth Fall Festival Tabloid for many years. She was voted best artist in Gwinnett. Ann says that she is really famous “ for about l square mile.” She is a member of the Kudzu Art Zone and was thrilled to win second place in their first art show.
In her early painting years Ann concentrated on historic paintings of Duluth and surrounding area. She has truly saved on canvas a little country town that is now metropolitan Atlanta suburbia. “I painted around Duluth because I loved it. Little did I know that most of the things I painted would be gone so soon?”
Although Ann still does some local paintings, she is branching out now into more impressionistic and multi-media work. She is retired now and the best day of her week is when a group of artist meets at her house for a whole day of painting. I am so thrilled about my future as an artist. Since retirement Ann has worked on Murals at Duluth First Methodist Church, Gwinnett Tech, Southeast Railroad Museum and, her favorite, a mural of Old Duluth on the brick wall of what used to be her family department store, which has been torn down to create Parsons Alley. Her most recent paintings are two four foot by five foot paintings of old Duluth which are hanging in the Old Duluth Depot which is now at the Southeast Railway Museum.
Contact- apodum@ bellsouth.net
