Anne Smerdon is an Australian artist documenting the symbiotic relationship between humans and animals, particularly birds and horses.  Facebeak are her pet birds Vonnegut and Schiele. Anne has an extensive knowledge of body language and psychology in birds and horses. She uses this to work with live birds to create each of her artworks. She may spend hours with each bird, patiently waiting for them to become at ease in her presence so that she can capture their true personality.

Anne’s love for birds started from a very early age when her family purchased two small parrots as pets. They were vicious and in no way tame, yet Anne quickly became fascinated with them, studying them for school projects, recording her observations and giving presentations at school on the need to understand and protect such birds. She learnt to understand the calls of wild birds and would often find injured or sick birds and bring them home to nurture them.

In 2009 Anne brought a young exotic Indian Ringneck parrot called Vonnegut into her home. This spurred on hours of reading ornithological studies, discussions with avian vets and researching. As a result, Anne’s lifestyle, artwork and even career became synonymous with birds. Since then, Anne’s presence as a bird owner on social media has grown to over 400,000 combined followers on Instagram, Tik Tok and Facebook. She has written two books The Facebeak Guide to Living with Parrots and The Facebeak Guide to Solving Parrot Problems.

Anne uses her work to advocate for birds. Each body of work has a strong social aspect, raising awareness and educating the public on protecting wild birds and/or providing for the mental, physical and emotional needs of birds in captivity. Anne regularly collaborates with bird-life organisations and donates proceeds from her work to support their charities.

Anne lives on the Gold Coast, Australia. She works in watercolour and oil paint and has exhibited both nationally and internationally, receiving various awards for her work, including:

• 2025 Finalist - STILL National Still Life Award, Yarrila Arts & Museum NSW

• 2024 Finalist - Evelyn Chapman Art Award, S.H.Ervin Gallery, NSW

• 2024 Finalist - Portia Geach Memorial Award, S.H.Ervin Gallery, NSW

• 2024 Finalist - Wollumbin Art Prize, Tweed Regional Gallery, NSW

• 2024 Finalist - Gold Coast Triennial, HOTA, QLD

• 2023 Finalist - Brisbane Portrait Prize, QLD

• 2022 Finalist - Wollumbin Art Prize, Tweed Regional Gallery, NSW

• 2022 Winner - D’Arcy Doyle Competition - Still Life Category

• 2021 Winner - D’Arcy Doyle Competition - Still Life Category

• 2015 Finalist - Border Art Prize, Regional Art Gallery of NSW

• 2014 Finalist - Border Art Prize, Regional Art Gallery of NSW

• 2013 Winner - Element Eden Global Artist search, Fine Art Category

• 2013 Winner - Emerging Artist Award, Trinity College Art Competition, QLD 

• 2012 Finalist - Border Art Prize, Regional Art Gallery, NSW

• 2010 Finalist - Border Art Prize, Regional Art Gallery, NSW

• 2010 Finalist - St Sebastian’s Emerging Artist Award, QLD

• 2005 Finalist - ‘Got to be Youth’ Design competition, Brisbane

• 2003 Highly Commended – Ministers Art Award

• 2003 Principles Art Award - Somerville House

• 2003 Speech Night Award – Year 12 Art Award

• 2001 Artistic Achievement Award – Somerville House

• 2001 Winner of “Dare to Dream” Art Competition, QIEU

• 1997 Trustee’s Children’s Creative Art Scholarship winner, Queensland Art Gallery

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Anne also runs the The Artory art school in Kingscliff, NSW.

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