Ann Tankesley is an American painter based in Tennessee, and a graduate of the Ringling School of Art. Where much contemporary art focuses on physical existence, making the process or the materials themselves the subject, Tankesley seeks to capture the undercurrent of life and the presence of something deeper that points toward a spiritual existence. She works chiefly with water and sky, drawn to their transcendent quality, and the emotions she conveys are most often peace and hope. As an acknowledgement that she is creating art rather than copying life, her images either emerge from the canvas or openly show their brushwork. Her paintings have been widely exhibited across the southeastern United States, including juried shows at the Booth Museum and Downtown Gallery in Cartersville, the Creative Art Center in Dalton, Art House in Acworth, and the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport. She held a one-person show at the Mountain Arts Center in Signal Mountain, and received a Talent Award at the 13th Open International Show with TERAVARNA. In 2026 her work was selected for artBIAS IV, the 4th Budapest International Art Show.