Anne Horjus was raised in a small village near the Wadden Sea in the Northern part of the Netherlands known as Friesland. (Anne, pronounced Ann-uh, is an old fashioned Friesian boys name)
Anne considers Sauk County, one of the most scenic counties in the state. It is the inspiration for most of his landscape paintings. In the Netherlands the landscape is flat, and dominated by the sky and its constantly changing cloud formations that roll in from the sea. Expressing the balance of the dramatic play between sky and landscape, is what he enjoy most.
Anne studied classical singing at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. After his study he gave voice lessons and performed as a classical bass/baritone soloist.
As a visual artist, Anne has been active in a variety of freelance projects including portraits, landscapes, art installations, murals, theater sets, woodcarvings, puppet building, storytelling and writing. He has illustrated seven children’s picture books in The Netherlands, Belgium and the U.S.A. He often combines his artistic skills to create unique, multifaceted performances to entertain large audiences. The art for his latest picture book “Sleep” was projected on a large screen during a performance with Grammy Award winning composer Eric Whitacre on the stage of Emens Auditorium at Ball State University in Muncie IN, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and The Royal Concert Hall of Amsterdam.
Before he became a full-time artist Anne was a part time library program coordinator for over 16 years, Anne was an author for the Collaborative Summer Library Program Manual, which is distributed to public libraries in 50 states. In 2013-14 he was asked by Worldbook to create theme-related children’s activities through art and craft projects for web use and publications. He is a frequently requested clinician for literacy related youth programming in library systems and school districts throughout Wisconsin.