See slideshow of Anne’s synesthetic process
Anne generates many of her ideas for all her work by listening to classical music. As she listens to a composition she creates thumbnail sketches in watercolors and colored pencils. Many of these thumbnails were studies for projections for the Mercury Soul project.
About
Anne Patterson (b. 1960) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn. Working across painting, sculpture, and installation, Patterson explores the ways our senses overlap, and how together they create an experience greater than the sum of its parts. Informed by her own synesthesia and her training as a set designer, she is often inspired by music and sound. This call and response with other art forms is central to her practice – collaborating with composers, perfumers, lighting designers, choreographers, or architects. Patterson’s installations, sculptures, and paintings function as transitional objects, using affect to open new spiritual and emotional experiences for the audience.
Patterson has created large-scale installations for cathedrals, museums and corporate spaces across the country, including at St. John the Divine Cathedral, New York, NY (2024), Capital One Bank, McLean, VA (installed in 2023, permanent installation), The Color Factory, Willis Tower, Chicago, IL (installed in 2022, permanent installation), Ermenigildo Zegna’s Fall Winter presentation, Milan, Italy (2020), Bogardus Plaza, Tribeca, New York, NY (2018), the Community Foundation of Sarasota, Sarasota, FL (installed in 2017), The Venetian Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV (installed in 2017), Christ Church Cathedral, Cincinnati, OH (installed in 2017), Tishman Speyer at 125 High St., Boston, MA (installed from 2015 to 2020), Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA (2013). Patterson has also created orchestral installations and sets for theater and opera productions at major venues across the United States including Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Arena Stage, The Wilma Theater, The Kennedy Center, and the Alliance Theater; and prestigious symphonies throughout the country (San Francisco, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle).
Patterson has had solo and two-person exhibitions at the Sarasota Art Museum, FL (2024), Jessica Hagen Gallery, Newport, RI (2021), The Ringling Museum of Art, FL (2016), Alfstad&Contemporary, FL (2016), The Shaw Room, Atlanta, GA (2012), and The Marmara Gallery, New York, NY (2008). Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Jessica Hagen Gallery, Newport, RI (2026), Sun Valley Museum of Art, Ketchum, ID (2023), Trapholt Museum of Art and Design, Kolding, Denmark (2019), Christina Grajales Gallery, New York, NY (2019), Building Bridges Art Exchange, Los Angeles, CA (2017), Valerie Dillon Gallery, New York, NY (2014), Denise Bibro Gallery, New York, NY (2014), One Twelve Gallery, Atlanta, GA (2013), and Cade Tompkins Projects, Providence, RI (2010) among others.
Patterson’s work is held in important public and private collections, including Memorial Sloan Kettering, New York, NY; New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY; Rhode Island Blue Cross, Providence, RI; Zegna, Milan, Italy; and Tribune Media, New York, NY.
Patterson was the 2014 and 2016 CODAaward Winner for Liturgical Art and received a Creative Capital Award in 2008. She is a fellow of the Hermitage Artist’s Retreat. Patterson received her B.A. of Architecture from Yale University and her M.F.A. in Theater Design from The Slade School of Art, London UK.