“It is not About how competent an artist I am or am not. My work is About my vision and concept. It is About the viewer’s reaction, how the viewer constructs meaning, About how the viewer reacts or thinks. It is About the viewer releasing their notions of order and reality.”
Anne Luther

A Contemporary Surrealist artist, Anne Luther was born in Manhattan and studied fine art at New York City’s Parsons School of Design. She followed a career in international marketing communications with some of the world’s best known brand names, Moet & Chandon Champagne, Estee Lauder and Revlon. Her work took her around the world and she lived for a time in England, Europe and China. In her off hours she continued her art education, immersing herself in International cultures and concepts.

In 2002 she took a sabbatical in New Mexico and studied at the Taos Institute of Art. Working in oils and photography she explored the iconography of the unconscious but discovered that the three dimensional forms of mixed media assemblage were ideal in expressing her surreal, mysterious and dream like images. Since then she has concentrated on art as her career.

Luther now works in her studio located on the Santa Barbara, California coast. There, she is surrounded by vignettes of eclectic, cross cultural collections. A visual archaeologist, she often looks at what others consider cast offs and finds art.

Her sources of inspiration range from antique embroideries to feminist manifestos, from the classical works of the female Surrealist to contemporary poetry. With a limited control of reason she lets her creative unconscious operate independently and spontaneously, creating visually compelling pieces.

Anne is a member of the Santa Barbara Art Association, The California Art Club and SCAPE; Southern California Artist Painting for the Environment. Her work has been featured in numerous solo and juried group exhibitions and she has received numerous private and commercial commissions.

She is the recipient of the Profant Foundation’s Michelangelo Award and the Arts Fund’s Individual Artist Award. Her work is in private collections all over the United States and in Europe and South Africa. She is the past President of the Santa Barbara Visual Arts Alliance and is a sustaining trustee of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

“For over twenty five years, I have collected and been fascinated by vintage papers, a wellspring of inspiration for my collages. They contain memories of past owners, offering a glimpse into other times and worlds. A few handwritten lines on a bit of foxed paper, tell the stories of those who have lived with these papers, held them, wrote them. They whisper their thoughts, their joy, and their tragedies as I imagine and celebrate these lives.”

“The work I produce involves making connections between these papers, exploring reality and surrealism, preservation and decay, memory and forgetting. My art is intimate, like a secret language or a page from an old journal. Each piece evolves slowly, unfolding a story as I create careful detail and structure. I believe that my visual and symbolic expressions, while nostalgic, have a timeless, classic appeal in today’s high tech world. The results are always unpredictable and it is this mystery that drives my fascination and fuels my creativity.”
Anne Luther

Santa Barbara Studio

Santa Barbara Shows and Exhibits

• Five x Five, invitational group show, Westmont Ridley Tree Museum of Art Santa Barbara 2020
• Transformation:  Fiber as Medium, The Common Thread Gallery, juried international group show 2019
• Five x Five, invitational group show, Westmont Ridley Tree Museum of Art Santa Barbara 2018
• The Sketchbook Project, invitational international group show 2016 & 2017
• Flock, Birds on the Brink, invitational group show, Lotusland Santa Barbara 2015
• Feast Your Eyes, invitational group show, The Arts Fund Santa Barbara 2014
• Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, Table of Life Gala, image for all collateral, 2013
• One Night Stand, Gallery 27, 2011, 12 & 13
• Domestic Violence Solutions Commission, 2011
• Woman’s Work solo show Caruso Woods Fine Art Gallery, 2010
• Relics & Offerings, solo show Caruso Woods Art Gallery, 2008
• Surreal, images from the dream state, solo show Caruso Woods Art Gallery, 2006
• Haute Handbags Vol. I, forward by Anne Luther, published by Somerset Studios, 2006
• The Girl Friend Project: Celebrating Doll Artistry, guest artist, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, 2007
• Bags, 26 portraits of woman as seen through their handbag, solo show Caruso Woods Fine Art Galleries, 2005
• Sacred Journals, solo show Caruso Woods Fine Art Galleries, 2004
• Messengers, solo show, Faulkner Galleries, September,2003
• Messengers II, solo show, Step One Galley, 2003 -04
• Woman to Woman, an Art Quilt Project, solo installation, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, 2002
• Santa Barbara C& A, (Collage & Assemblage), guest artist, Fielding Institute, 2003
• Red, Contemporary Arts Forum, guest artist, 2004, 05
• Santa Barbara Fine Arts, juried group show, Sunken Gardens, 2001, 02
• Artwalk, juried group show, Museum of Natural History, 2002, 03
• Women Beyond Borders, guest artists preview exhibition, UCSB Art Museum, 2002
• Un Ange Passe, juried group show, Reynolds Galleries, 2001
• Buddha Abides, juried group show, Caruso Woods Gallery, 2002, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07
• We Ain’t No Landscape Painters guest artist, AFS Galleries, 2002
• Wish You Were Here, guest artist, The Arts Fund, 2005, 2007
• What Will They Create? guest artist, AFS Galleries, 2002, 03, 06, 07
• Identity, juried group show, Caruso Woods Gallery, 2002, 03, 04
• Canvas Project, guest artist, Art’s Fund Galleries, 2001, 02, 03, 04
• Love is in the Air, juried group show, Art’s Fund Galleries, 2002, 03
• Flora & Fauna, juried group show, Art’s Fund Galleries, 2003
• Reflections of Poverty, juried group show, Faulkner Galleries, 2002, 03
• Fiesta Finale, guest artist, Santa Barbara Court House, 2001, 05
• Fan Project, guest artist, Santa Barbara Court House, 2003, 04
• Salute to Arts Primavera, guest artist, Saks Fifth Avenue SB,2003, artwork also featured in events advertising
• Architectural Gems of Santa Barbara, juried group show, Acheson Galleries, 2002, 03
• Women Exploring the Sensual, juried group show, UCSB Women’s Center Art Galleries, 2002, 03
• Montecito Magic, juried group show, San Ysidro Ranch, 2003
• Formulations, group show, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, 2002, 03
• Summer Solstice Poster Contest, finalist, 2002, 04
• Festival of Hearts, guest artist, displayed in Sak’s Fifth Avenue’s Window, 2004, 05
• Sacred Sights & Sites, guest artist Brofman Family Jewish Center, 2004
• Close Up, juried group show, Acheson Galleries, 2004
• CAMA Celebrity Arts Auction, guest artist 2004, 05