“Creation is a process; says artist Rita Blitt: allergic In a recent video interview conducted at her part-time studio in Berkeley, California.
The Abstract Expressionist artist, whose dynamic practice spans a full nine decades and whose mediums include painting, drawing, film, and sculpture, has learned more than a thing or two about crafting a well-rounded body of work. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Britt spends her time with her daughter when she’s not in California, and has dedicated her life to becoming an artist. Her thousands of works include large-scale public sculptures permanently installed in her hometown and as far away as Singapore and Australia; short films and documentaries integrating her artistic practice with music and dance; and sentimental collections in museums and private institutions worldwide. Paintings include the Skiball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, the National Museum of Singapore, the Nevada Museum of Art, the Spencer Museum of Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Kemper Museum School of Contemporary Art, and the Malvern Museum of Art at Washburn University.
Bullitt draws much of her artistic inspiration from members of her family, including her granddaughter and late husband, the natural environment, and the work of long-time collaborators such as choreographer David Parsons and composer Michael Udoh . But her greatest and longest-lasting influence is dance, which has been the foundation of her artistic identity since childhood, when she would trace poetic figures on frosted windows with her fingers and fill in “anything.” A blank slate”. Imaginative illustrations. To this day, her artistic process is filled with movements and sweeping gestures created with her arms and body, similar to a conductor conducting an orchestra.
The Mulvane Art Museum has a collection of over 2,000 works by Blitt, has dedicated a gallery space to her name, and is currently displaying several of her works in exhibitions abstract expressionist womenuntil February. The exhibition connects her lifelong artistic practice with that of mid-20th-century Abstract Expressionist artists Elaine de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner Be in conversation with the artistic practice of Joan Mitchell, arguably a household name in the history of postwar American art.
“I’ve known Rita for a while and I’ve spent a lot of time studying her work, but every time I watch it I learn something new or experience something new, so it’s been a journey” Malvern Art Museum Director Connie Gibbons serves as curator abstract expressionist women,Tell allergic.
Gibbons explained that she read Mary Gabriel’s 2018 book Ninth Street Womenan in-depth study of the work of Krasner, de Kooning, Mitchell, Frankenthaler, and Grace Hartigan, women painters whose contributions have been historically recognized by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning , Robert Rauschenberg and other male artists.
The curators recognized the commonalities between their approach and that of Bullitt, a Midwestern artist “doing a very similar thing…often in isolation” away from the bustle of New York City community.
Now in her 90s, Bullitt is still creating and looking for inspiration every day. Her latest paintings blend color and flowing shapes on canvas, revisiting her lifelong love of trees.
“Someone once said that a work of art is not finished until it has been seen by others,” Bullitt told us allergic. “Maybe that’s true, but sometimes it’s hard to share everything. People say, ‘Oh, [art] It has to look like this, or it has to look like that. But I want them to know that it’s about the joy of creating and having the courage to listen to your inner voice. “
