Mulvane Art Museum To Permanently House The Rita Blitt Legacy Collection And Archive

TOPEKA, Kan., Aug. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At the invitation of Washburn University, world-renowned, award-winning artist Rita Blitt is gifting her legacy collection and archive to the University's Mulvane Art Museum. The Rita Blitt Gallery and Sculpture Garden, currently under construction in Topeka, Kansas, will connect Blitt's art to the University's White Concert Hall and create a meaningful link between the performing and visual arts on campus. The grand opening will be celebrated in early November.

Blitt's many works on paper, canvas, sculpture and films will rotate in exhibitions at the Gallery. Connie Gibbons, director of Mulvane Art Museum, says Blitt's legacy collection and archive will create a unique educational experience, offering the University a chance to distinguish itself from other regional art museums and collections.

"To display such a large cross section of her art and share the way she works and processes the world is a great honor for us," says Gibbons. "It's an incredible opportunity to see how an artist has evolved over a lifetime. You can see in her early childhood drawings where a line first appeared and where that form appears throughout her work. Seeing her talent grow and connect, whether it's a simple drawing on paper or a massive sculpture, is the really exciting part of her gift."

Blitt's art – inspired by music, dance and nature – is created by spontaneous movements, springing forth from a desire to capture the beauty and joy of life. Her monumental sculptures are reflections of lines she's let flow across canvas and paper. Rita once wrote she feels as though she is "dancing on paper."

David Parsons, contemporary choreographer and founder of Parsons Dance, agrees. "In Rita's creations, I find movement caught in time," says Parsons. "Her paintings and sculpture allow me to see elements of my dances, which normally pass too quickly."

Rita has long been revered in the art world. "Rita's art is like looking at visual poetry," said James Surls, international sculptor. Conductor David Barg once told Rita: "You make energy visible like one needs the trees to see the wind," while David Knaus, founding director of Marrakech Museum of Photography and Visual Arts in Morocco, describes Rita's work as "reflective on both a visual and intellectual level, inviting the viewer to share in its simple beauty."

Over the years, Rita has completed more than 70 solo exhibitions and 40 public installations. Her sculptures, up to 60 feet tall, can be found in communities across the globe. Her works are seen in private collections and museums including the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and National Museum of Singapore, among others.

Mulvane Art Museum will host a meet-the-artist celebration for the grand opening of the Rita Blitt Gallery and Sculpture Garden in November. To view her artwork and other projects, visit www.ritablitt.com.

About Rita Blitt
Rita Blitt was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1931. Spanning more than seven decades, Blitt's creative journey began from the time she could pick up a crayon. At ages 10 and 11, she won scholarships for Saturday classes at the Kansas City Art Institute, and she returned there after attending the University of Illinois and graduating from the University of Missouri at Kansas City with a bachelor in arts. Blitt's internationally recognized, award-winning work celebrates her love of nature, music, dance and the spontaneous flow of movement. Bridging the world of visual art, music and dance, Blitt's work encompasses many mediums and processes, ranging from paintings and drawings, sometimes transformed into sculpture up to 60-feet tall, and film making. Blitt's words, "Kindness is Contagious. Catch it!" have influenced lives throughout the world. Blitt has studios in California and Kansas.

SOURCE Rita Blitt

Related Links

http://www.ritablitt.com