The Art of Anita Klein

ARTIST-ILLUSTRATOR-CARTOONIST Growin’ up doodlin’ on any spare scrap of paper, Anita Klein was encouraged from an early age to develop her natural scribblin’ tendencies into a career in art. A youthful fascination with T.V. Westerns grew into full blown horse crazies. One ride led to another and the next thing ya know, Anita was crowned as a rodeo princess. The subsequent tour of rodeos gave Anita a deeper appreciation for the excitement of rodeo, one of her favourite subjects for her “serious” art stuff. Anita received her formal fine art education at the Emily Carr College of Art and received an Associate Degree in Design from Kwantlen College. She began her career as a graphic artist and cartoonist until moving to northern B.C. There Anita returned to the fine arts, exhibiting her work in local galleries, teaching several successful workshops and instructing for the North Coast Distance School. Using a variety of mediums, Anita’s work is recognized by it’s lushness of colour and bold sense of drama. Her subjects are varied but her love of horses, nature and the western life are evident in her art. Her humorous work features colorful cowgirls, their horses and dogs and the crazy things that can happen when you mix the three. Anita is a member of Cowboy Cartoonists International and an active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists. In addition to being seen on t-shirts, advertisements, brochures and wall murals, Anita’s work has been featured on the Williams Lake Stampede Poster and Kamloops Cowboy Festival Poster. Her Cartoon, “Mad Cow Disease” will be available as a Leanin’ Tree greeting card in 2010. When not hangin’ out with her quarterhorse Duncan, Anita works from her home studio in Cloverdale B.C. where she lives with her fishin’ husband Kevin, their incredibly cute and talented children, Grace & Sam and terrific Jack Russel Terriers, Tink & Jig.