Annette's Bio

Annette Fortt was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the tenth of 12 children. Her early education was in the public schools of Memphis and New York City.

She received the Master of Science degree from Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) in 1966 and began an art teaching career.  She made a timely move to New York at the height of the abstract expressionist movement in 1967. Ever since, though her work has remained representational at its core, she has maintained an awareness of the element of abstraction and seeks to maintain it in the structure and details of her paintings and prints and especially, of late, her assemblages and tech inspired work. 

When Annette began teaching art in New York, she also began taking advantage of many opportunities in the New York area to advance her skills, taking art classes at Art Student League and studio and art history classes at New York University and Hunter College.  After marrying and starting a family, she took a leave from teaching and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute in 1983.  During that period, she exhibited widely in the New York Metropolitan area until the family moved to Washington, D.C. in 1985. There, printmaking took precedence when she joined a group studio and continued to work and exhibit.

Having spent a lifetime creating, Annette is pleased to be among 10 artists selected for Art Cart:  Saving the Legacy 2016, a project whose objective was to document her life work for the archives of Columbia University, New York, NY. Annette’s work has appeared in numerous solo, group, and invitational shows, and is part of both private and public collections. Her Biblical images have been used throughout the world for lectionaries through Art in the Christian Tradition, a project at Vanderbilt University’s Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries. Presently Annette continues to live and work in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area.

Read Annette's full resume.