Reta Annen

 

 

Born and educated in Switzerland, Reta Annen already enjoyed drawing and painting during primary school, winning her first drawing competition at the age of thirteen.

 

After having completed her education in Switzerland she worked in France and South Africa before moving to Cyprus, Egypt and Sudan. A long posting in the United Arab Emirates gave Reta the opportunity to study art at the Dubai Art Society where she became familiar with all the different media. She later taught at the Art Society for thirteen years and ran her own gallery at the Dubai Hilton.

 

The opening of the gallery in the Hilton proved extremely successful; this is also where Reta had her first "one-woman" show with more than eighty paintings. This was followed by the participation in the first international exhibitions like the Grolla d'Oro in Venice and the Middle Eastern Exhibition "Homage to the Sons of the Desert" at the Britannia Hotel in London. She also showed her work in her native Switzerland and participated with the Central Swiss Art Group to celebrate the 700th anniversary of Switzerland on Mount Rigi in 1991.

 

After more than 20 years in Africa and the Middle East the move to Australia at the end of 1991 meant a big change, but also a great challenge, giving her the opportunity to further advance her etching and printing techniques. She has held several solo and combined exhibitions at the Sydney Hilton as well as in different Art Centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Port Macquarie and Cowra. Reta works in all the different media and likes to change the medium depending on the subject she paints.

Reta not only likes to paint but is also a very keen photographer. Her latest passion began in April 2007 when traveling from Sydney to Adelaide and noticing along the way all the amazingly artistic letter boxes. What started as just a few photographs soon turned into an obsession. In the two years that followed Reta photographed more than three thousand letterboxes. Her intention is to have an exhibition and maybe produce a book.