Annette is an art educator and self-taught visual artist whose work spans multiple media, including painting, collage, clay, and photography. Deeply influenced by her extensive travels, she selects her materials based on the urgency of the ideas she seeks to explore. Found objects and the unique qualities of each medium play an integral role in shaping her creative process. Her work often examines themes of assimilation and belonging, as well as the dynamics of boundaries and borders.

Born and raised in Germany, Annette was immersed in the arts from an early age, inspired by the works in her family’s gallery and by their extensive modern art collection. After moving to the United States, she first began working with clay and with glass at UrbanGlass studios, eventually expanding her artistic practice to begin painting and to explore new materials and techniques.

Before fully transitioning into art and education professionally, Annette had a successful career as a creative and marketing director in the consumer goods and fashion industries. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, but ultimately found her greatest fulfillment in teaching and the arts.

Under the mentorship of Judith Burton at Teachers College, Columbia University, she earned an MA in Art Education and developed a deep commitment to nurturing young artists. She is dedicated to fostering creative thinking, critical observation, and self-expression, encouraging students to explore global themes through their own artistic voices.

Annette has taught students of all ages in various educational settings. Most recently, as an art educator at Sacred Heart Greenwich, she championed meaningful, process-oriented arts and design integration within the curriculum. She developed visual arts components for middle school capstone projects and played a key role in strengthening the presence of the visual arts within the broader academic program. In addition, she served as the Visual Arts Coordinator for the Network of Sacred Heart Schools.

Currently, Annette is expanding her focus, exploring ways to bring artistic practices and creative inquiry into therapeutic settings for both children and adults. She continues to develop her own artistic practice in her Riverside studio while furthering her studies at the Art Students League of New York and Silvermine Arts Center in Norwalk.