By
Lorna Ritz
Piece description from the artist
I meet all kinds of people who find me as they walk through the orchard. (Some stay on the 'known path' and would not even know I am there). Here are some of my experiences with people: a neighbor said, "I see you walk every day. I never knew you were an artist,"
(as though it was a well kept secret). Yesterday a young woman walked in front of my drawing, between me and the mountain, and unimaginatively asked, "Do you sell this, or do you do 'this' just for yourself?"
Here are some more interesting comments:
A child with her Parent told me, "I can draw that tree better," So I extended by crayon filled hands that made my fingers look muddy, and said, "Here, take them and show me," and she ran away.
A young man on a bike hit his horn by mistake and startled me. He was so kind about it that we talked for 20 minutes about his horrible art teacher at UMASS. He said, "I should have studied with you." He loved the tree and mountain I was drawing. We talked about how my eyes tell my hands how to move.
A self-declared stoned woman walked by, asking if she could look at my drawing, and I said, "Sure!" She said, "Did you get this 'ordained, divine power,' (her words), from your Mother of from your Father?"
Three Boston women came all the distance to look at autumn leaves in the country and heard about Mt. Pollux. They were very nice and liked me, but they were unaware they were standing in my view so I could not work. They forgot I was drawing and talked about all kinds of other things I do not even remember. I finally said, "OK, time for me to get back to my drawing, but thank you so much for visiting."
And, lastly, a car load of young men, maybe in their 30’s, got out of their car and whispered to each other while looking at me, though I heard Spanish. All of them made a bee line towards me with intent in their eyes. I was so happy drawing, that when they approached, I said something very funny, (don’t even remember what it was), that threw them, of course. One of them said to the other, “Let’s leave her alone,” in Spanish, and he even smiled at me.
Lorna Ritz studied under the instruction of painter James Gahagan, (a student of Hans Hofmann), who was a very important teacher for her in the 60’s. She received an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1971, in both painting and sculpture, (welding steel, and casting in bronze and iron). She welded steel for 25 years, but never stopped painting, and only paints now. It is color and paint that structures the space that then finds the volumetric composition of her painting. BFA Pratt Institute MFA Cranbrook Academy Art.Taught @: R.I.School Design, Brown U,U MN, Dartmouth College VT Center,NY Studio School, UMASS, Residencies:C-Scape Dune Shacks,'P’Town, MA., International Program, UMASS, Cape Town,South Africa, Wurlitzer Foundation, NM.,Arcadia National Park, ME, Fundacíon Valparaíso,Spain; Roswell Museum Art Center, NM.,MacDowell Colony, NH, Lectures: Instituto de Belles Artes, (Medellin, Colombia), Honduras; American U, (D.C. + Italy);Humboldt U.,(CA);American U, (France) Divinity Center Yale U, Bowery Gallery,NYC, Hillyer Gallery, and Oresman Gallery at Brown Fine Arts Center @ Smith College,'Contemporary Art Museum" UMASS. ,Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, Fine Arts Center P’Town, MA. Group exhibitions:"Anita Shapolsky Gallery, NYC, The Painting Center," NYC Edward Hopper Museum, NY, Hannah Bacol Busch Gallery,Texas, Lamont Gallery, Phillips Exeter Academy, NH. solo shows: Contemporary Art Museum UMASS,,State House,Boston, Aidron Duckworth Art Museum, NH.,French Cultural Center, Boston, Grants: Artists' Fellowship, Berkshire Taconic Foundation, Haven Foundation,ME, George Sugarman Grant, Puffin Foundation, NJ, Kittredge Grant, Harvard U., Pollock-Krasner Grants, Esther & Adolph Gottlieb Individual Grant, Ludwig Vogelstein, Blanche Colman Grant Public Collections: U Michigan Museum Contemporary Art, Hale and Dorr Law Firm, Bank of Boston, Johnson &Johnson, (N.J.), Anderson Museum Contemporary Art, (N.M.), Burnham Institute, (CA.), Veridex, (NJ),Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Childrens' Hospital, Nataxix Global Asset, Cedars Sinai Hospital LA,Audax Group, United Health Group Corporate Minnesota, McLean Hospital @ Harvard Medical School, Ipsen Cambridge, MA.
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