RSVP: info@ashbyvillage.org
When: Sunday, March 6, 2022, 1 - 2:30 pm
Please join us early at 12:50pm to view the 8-minute film, Caught in Nature, featuring Rita's work -- AND -- be sure to stay to view a second short film, The Sun Still Shines, at the end of the program.
Where: Zoom webinar- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86209511894
Open to: All
Conversation with Rita Blitt, Visual Artist
On Family, Drawing, Painting, Sculpting
and Film Making
The Ashby Village community is in for a very special treat in early March!
Rita Blitt is an Ashby Village member and internationally renowned contemporary American artist. We are honored that she will share work and stories from her 70+ years of creating in various media during this event.
Rita will share insights about her creative process, transitions in her work, and her artistic challenges in conversation with Patricia Sakai of the Exploring Creativity Group of Ashby Village. Rita will also share her thoughts about how anyone can bring out their creativity at any age. And she should know. At age 90, Rita Blitt is still creating art, and she’s not stopping.
Rita’s creative journey has encompassed many mediums and processes: from the discovery that her simple line drawings can become sculpture on a monumental scale, to her realization that her black line drawings flow powerfully from one hand or two at once. Rita Blitt’s work is inspired by nature, by music, by poetry and by dance. And she has also worked with artists in other fields to create provocative works, including sculpture and films.
Rita’s friend and collaborator, David Parsons of the David Parsons Dance Company, says of her work, “In Rita’s creations, I find movement caught in time, capturing motion on paper.”
Yehuda Hanani, international cello soloist, who teaches cello at the Mannes School of Music in New York City and the High Peaks summer music festival, says, “Rita Blitt’s art and life are inseparable. Every gesture, in both, is borne on the wings of spontaneous responses unfettered by self-consciousness. Her constant search for the spirit and essence of reality is accompanied by a sense of wonder and mischief. “
Rita Blitt’s work has been shown in over 70 solo exhibitions and is included in many museums and private collections in the U.S. Her sculptures can be found throughout the U.S. and internationally, including Israel, Japan, Australia and Singapore. In 2015, the Mulvane Museum at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas received the gift of Rita Blitt’s legacy collection of more than 2,500 paintings, drawings, sculptures and archival material. The museum is now home to the Rita Blitt Gallery and Sculpture Garden.
Finally, Rita’s films have been invited to over 130 festivals. Her short film, “Caught in Paint”, which will be shown during this webinar, has won 16 awards. In 2021, Rita was named “Visual Artist of the Year” by the Raleigh Film Festival.
You can view Rita Blitt’s work, including her films, at ritablitt.com.
We hope that you will plan to join us to meet this extraordinary artist.