Artist, author and tarot designer Anna-Marie Ferguson will lead a workshop from 6:30-9:30 p.m. Monday, March 13, at Church of St. Francis, 3201 Pleasant Ave., Minneapolis.
She will narrate a special showing of her artwork from Legend: The Arthurian Tarot, The Llewellyn Tarot, and Le Mort d’Arthur. Copies of her books and tarot decks will be available for sale and autograph signing.
Reservations for her March 13 workshop at Church of St. Francis in Minneapolis may be made at the door. Prices are: $25 for adults; $20 for seniors, students or Theosophical members; and $40 for couples or families. Credit cards are accepted. Refreshments. For more information, call 651.235.6645. The program is part of the Minneapolis Theosophical Society’s series on Ancient Wisdom and Ancient Mysteries.
Anna-Marie is the creator of Legend: The Arthurian Tarot and Llewellyn Tarot, the author of A Keeper of Words, and the illustrator of Le Mort d’Arthur. (See www.annamarieferguson.com.) She also was asked to assist in the art direction on movie set of “Lord of the Rings” on location in New Zealand.
Anna-Marie Ferguson’s fascination with Celtic legends and the tarot began when she was a child in England. She was born in the New Forest in southern England.The atmosphere of the New Forest is steeped in history. Faithful readings of the medieval legends of this region cultivated an appreciation of a romantic view of the period in Anna-Marie.
Her narrated artwork will show the traditions of King Arthur, Merlin, Morgan Le Fay and the Grail Quest.
Anna-Marie Ferguson emigrated from England to western Canada with her family at the age of 9. Both the medieval roots and ancient woodlands of her birthplace and the vast, wild landscapes of Canada are reflected in her art.
In her early twenties, she both wrote and illustrated Legend: The Arthurian Tarot and its accompanying book, A Keep of Words, which chronicles the legends surrounding King Arthur, and its acclaim and multiple language translations earned her the coveted contract to illustrate Sir Thomas Malory’s classic Le Mort d’Arthur, first published in 1485. Her illustratrations earned international acclaim and study among the rarified list of Malorian artists that include Sir William Russell Flint, Aubrey Beardsley and N.C. Wyeth.
In 2006 Anna-Marie returned to the tarot with the special commission to design The Llewellyn Tarot on the 100th anniversary of its publishing house to honor founder Llewellyn George, a Welsh astrologer. In this project, she resurrected lesser known histories and methodologies to showcase the Celtic culture and history of Wales.
“The land itself is my first inspiration and then the legends that grow out of it,” the artist said of her work. “The realistic treatment of landscape in a painting and the realistic depiction of the unreal create a tension in an overlapping of words — not fantasy in the typical sense removed from this world nor the sterility that can come of photographic realism, but somewhere in between. It is this borderland of mystic realism that I strive for, and the thrill of painting what cannot otherwise be seen.”
As classical watercolor, her paintings serve as book illustrations and individual works of art, making for popular museum exhibits and additions to private art collections. Most recently, Anna-Marie was nominated for the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta’s Award of Distinguished Artist.
The artist also has devoted much time to the welfare of wildlife and been on the forefront to protect the wolf. She was intimately involved in the selection of “Unnatural Enemies: The War on Wolves” as winner of the 2016 Genesis Award for television documentary, awarded by the Humane Society of the United States.