Ann Womack, a Greenfield resident with many talents and lots of compassion, has used a blend of them to create a person and artist like no other. It is unsurprising that a licensed practical nurse (LPN) with more than 16 years of experience helping our loved ones during their end of life, would spend every waking hour outside of work focused on all things happy.

Like her paintings, Ann is a bright, bold burst of energy. Her living room before an exhibit is lined by more than forty of her canvas paintings.  The room is immaculate with pristine white carpets, even though it is packed full of art that could be described as controlled chaos. Her work is a gift of positivity and hope, and a bit of a sensory overload that makes you just feel good.

Her partner in life Nick Frirsz brings his own bit of accomplishment to Greenfield with his Frirsz Music Company. Frirsz is a world-renowned Luthier, a craftsman who repairs and builds string instruments. He is a fifth-generation master violinmaker, and his family is the oldest family of luthiers in the world. Frirsz is also a blues guitarist who Womack said is gifted at playing nearly every instrument there is. He is a skilled music composer and routinely performs with other musicians, most regularly with the local band the Saratoga All Stars. Where her art overwhelms one end of the house, his shop sits on the other end. It’s a beautiful workshop and showroom, with gorgeous instruments in various stages of the building and rebuilding process.

Womack and Frirsz met in Montreal 20 years ago when Womack accompanied her luthier brother to a viola conference. She credits meeting Frirsz, the love of her life, for her new ability to stop letting everyday life get in the way of her passions.

Womack is an expert mandolin musician and plays the violin and drums. Her acrylic mixed media painting is deeply expressive, and Womack admits sometimes she just keeps adding to a single painting because she is so overcome by her inspiration and it is Frirsz who has to tell her when it is time to call it quits on a particular piece of work. Frirsz has an eye for when the painting is perfect.

“It’s always a treat for me to walk downstairs and see what she is working on next,” said Frirsz.

Womack grew up in Indiana and was a lover of art and a classical viola player. She attended Indiana University in Bloomington initially to study music but later switched to fine arts and specialized in woven and constructed textiles. She left school early to help her parents with their business.

Her father created the first electric spinner called the Butterfly spinner, a tabletop spinner for beginners as an alternative to using a foot-powered spinning wheel to create yarn for textiles.

In 2009, she became an LPN and began a full-time career at the Community Hospice of Saratoga, where she spends time “one-on-one” with patients of the hospice who are living their final days. Womack said her family taught her the importance of being a caregiver and “they always helped their own.” Now Womack and the other staff nurses help the patients and their families feel joy and supported in their final days. Womack often brings her art and music to provide comfort to patients at the hospice.

Just two years ago, Womack started homing in on her painting skills with a friend Pat Testo. Nick encouraged her to submit work to the Whiting Studio Art and Gallery in Argyle, N.Y. where she met Bob and Sue Whiting.

“I hit the jackpot meeting them first,” Womack recalled. “They were so kind and helpful and really encouraged me.”

In that first exhibit she sold more than half of her paintings, which Womack said is a large amount for a first show. Since then, she has submitted work in more than 15 shows and only has ever had a couple refusals.

Last week she opened a large exhibit of about 20 pieces at the Adirondack Lake Art Center in Blue Mountain Lake, N.Y. The exhibit will continue through the end of August. Learn more about her “Brush of Joy” exhibit here. Womack’s pieces range in price from $250 to $3,500 each.

Womack belongs to North Country Arts, Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council, Discover Saratoga and Saratoga Arts Center. Her work will be displayed at the art market on Beekman Street, which takes place every third Friday of the month through September, at Fritelli & Lockwood Textile Studio on August 15 from 5-9 p.m.

The artwork is bright, busy and often includes various textures and textiles carefully layered into the canvas. They are named things like “Escaping Confinement,” “Time to Fly,” “Candles Burning at Both Ends,” and “Sunlight, Deep Woods.” They capture the beauty and boldness of things like butterflies and hummingbirds mid-flight. Each is a full composition that is carefully constructed with precise intention in every stroke. They even engage various senses at once, like the rhythm of music or a touch of nature.

“I see myself in all of my paintings,” said Womack. “They show how I’ve been changing and developing as a person. I spend my work life helping others, but my painting is something for me. It is incredible that people like it anyways because we all have so many shared experiences.”

Womack has lived in Greenfield for 20 years and loves it.

“It is green, lush and serene,” she said. “The people are friendly and we have a great sense of community and a great appreciation for music and art.”

“It is individuals like Ann who make our community as tightly knit as we are,” said Town Supervisor Kevin Veitch. “She gives so much of herself both in her profession as a caregiver and as an artist and we are lucky she calls the TOG her home.”

If Ann Womack was a fabric sold by the yard, there would be no proper price for it, as it is beautifully woven with diversity, complexity and texture.

Visit annwomack.com or call 518-538-1916 to set up an appointment to view and purchase her work. You can follow her work on Facebook and Instagram.

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