I grew up loving arts and crafts, but never expected to become a painter. I worked in restaurants, trained in anthropology and public health, and then, an unexpected chronic illness rerouted my path. In the fall of 2021, I signed up for a beginner oil-painting class with teacher Fran Gregory and felt a spark I hadn’t noticed since childhood. Only weeks later, four lower-leg surgeries within four y
ears to manage worsening arthritis left me bedridden with complex chronic nerve pain and disability and wondering if I’d ever return to my former professional life, or any semblance of the life I knew. During brief periods of wellness, though, I was determined to learn how to paint. Over the next four years, I developed my skills slowly, painstakingly and in pain through the study of commissioned paintings and portraits, and my Painted Molecules Series. Looking back, it feels like I was being pulled through a vice. Each piece presented unique challenges and taught me something new about different mediums, styles, brushes, and techniques. I self-taught, leaving no room for delivering a bad piece to a client. Still, though, I was missing something, and this missing piece was me. n spring 2025, a visit to Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul in Mexico City had a profoundly sad and emotional impact on me. I realized it was time to pour my own story—my pain, my limits, my experiences—onto the canvas, just as Frida did, another woman who suffered greatly from physical and emotional trauma. I am rebranding from AMFM ARTWORKS to Anne Nacht Morgan, drawing “Nacht” from my maiden name, Fosnacht (“night”), a nod to my love of the night and of my history. My first painting in this new chapter, Study of Self Reclined on Table, layers expressive inks and deep blue oils to examine my own body —the home of a painful and confused self. I am still accepting a small number of commissions, but now my work turns inward. In this next chapter, I'd like to explore through paint how illness, surgery, pain, and isolation have affected and shaped my life and identity.
