Anna Campbell Bliss | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 10, 1925 Morristown, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | October 12, 2015 (aged 90) Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Visual artist, architect |
| Spouse | Robert Bliss (1947–2015) |
Anna Campbell Bliss (July 10, 1925 – October 12, 2015) was an American visual artist and architect. Her trademark artwork blends color, lights, mathematics, movement, science and technology.[1] A modernist artist, Bliss, who was a pioneer of early computer generated art during the 1960s, was one of the first artists to utilize computer technology in her artwork.[2][3] Examples of her work are included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cliff Lodge in Alta, the J. Willard Marriott Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.[1][2] She also designed houses with her husband, architect and professor Robert Bliss, through their architectural practice, Bliss & Campbell Architects.[1]
Bliss was based in Salt Lake City for much of her career. Some of her largest and best known work can be found throughout Salt Lake City and the surrounding region, including her first public commission, "Windows", a 30-foot mural composed of squares which was installed from 1989 to 1990 at the former date processing center at the Utah State Capitol;[3] "Light of Grace", a stained glass wall of windows installed at Saint Thomas More Catholic Church in Sandy, Utah, in 1993; and "Extended Vision", installed from 2001 to 2003, a series of screenprinted and etched plates which are on display in the lobby of the Cowles Mathematics Building at the University of Utah.[1] One of Bliss' major art commissions included "Discoverers," a mural recalling the topography of Salt Lake City, which was officially unveiled in Concourse E of Salt Lake City International Airport in 1996. During the creation of "Discoverers," tested the attitudes of socially conservative Utah by including nudes in the mural. However, as she later explained in a 2012 interview, ""I included nudes in a minor way, just to establish a relationship between the ideas and people...Because of local attitudes, I couldn't have the nudes."[1] Instead, she added computer generated figures to the airport's mural at the suggestion of one of her assistants.[1]