Annette Fortt: Catalog of Works and Images

Annette Gandy Fortt was born in Memphis, Tenn. in 1944. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) with an Art Education major and a minor in Education. In 1983 she earned the Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, with concentrations in painting and print media. From 1983 to 1985 she worked at Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop in New York City where she was the recipient of the Jerome Fellow Award for emerging printmakers. At that time her work was shown in galleries in New York City and surrounding areas, including the Brooklyn Museum’s Community Gallery. Since moving to the Washington, D.C. area in 1985, she has been featured in invitational shows including Common Bond, Strathmore Hall Gallery; Universal Mother, Washington Theological Union; Honoring the legacy, the culminating show for Art Cart; and The University of Maryland Biennial 2016.

Fortt is a visual artist working in print, and paint media. She draws inspiration from the natural environment, the people she encounters day to day, and the intrigue of what is current and trending. The old, the new and the numinous are all a part of her belief system, and find their place in her expression. Her work in New York includes watercolors featuring the architecture and city life of Brooklyn and Chinatown. She also has created linoleum block prints of African-American images and Judeo-Christian Bible-based themes. Her recent work has been inspired by technology including paintings, prints and assemblages that reflect her interest in abstraction. She says, “My work reflects my interest in all of creation and how I immerse in it aesthetically, spiritually and socially.”

Types of work include: assemblage and mixed media, block prints, collagraphs, drawings, pastels, and watercolors