Alexandra Yakutis began her formal art education in the early 1970s, first at a community art center in Riverside, California, and soon thereafter at Cal State Fullerton, where a retrospective of abstract paintings by Southern California artist John McLaughlin evoked in her sensations and perceptions resembling spiritual experiences she had only previously encountered in communion with nature.

She transferred to the University of Washington, Seattle, where she was required to demonstrate proficiency in representational drawing, painting, and textile design. She was awarded with a travel fellowship Java and Bali for independent study of ceremonial textiles, and then went to work for a contemporary art museum back in Southern California, deciding against graduate school. She began painting independently in 1982. Her studio practice has served as the organizing principle of her life ever since.

Alexandra arrived upon the Gaviota Coast and Santa Ynez Valley in 1994. The wild shoreline, breathtaking river valley, and transverse ranges are worthy subjects of their own. Ultimately, though, it’s how to visualize the unseen that fascinates her. Using geometry to parse time, she draws on things she finds sacred in nature — mountains, rivers, shorelines, and trees — to create images that summon the viewer to a world apart.

Family and friends call her Annie.