Instilled with a keen awareness of human suffering since childhood, Rita Blitt has struggled with her desires to end wars and injustices. Simultaneously, she has celebrated life, music, dance and nature. Her deeply felt passions have resulted in the expressions of joy and pain seen in this exhibition. Blitt's strongest memory from childhood was listening to her mom's appeals for help to rescue those being persecuted by Hitler. Coupled with her father's kindness, her mom's deep concern influenced Blitt and the artwork she has made. (from an interview with Rita Blitt in 2009)
This traveling exhibition was initiated by Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California. The curator of the exhibition, Fatemah Burnes, expressed the complex range of emotions represented by this collection of works; "Rita's pure, rhythmic visual poetry is an everlasting instant of a joyous dance traced in a mirage like composition, pulsing dream and reality simultaneously. Rita's abstract marks capsulate a complexity of humanistic emotions that are liberated in a pure gesture of love and hope, to portray the world in perfect harmony."
In addition to Mt. San Antonio College, "Fear of War, Courage to Hope... While Dancing" traveled to College of the Desert, Palm Springs, California; 547 Arts Center, Greensburg, KS; Lawrence Art Center, Kansas; and the University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg.
In Fear of War I
1991, acrylic on masonite, 32x72 in
In the collection of the Dallas Holocaust Museum
In Fear of War II
1991, acrylic on masonite, 32x72 in
In the collection of the Dallas Holocaust Museum
In Fear of War III
1991, acrylic on masonite, 32x72 in
In the collection of the Dallas Holocaust Museum
In Fear of War IV
1991, acrylic on masonite, 32x72 in
In the collection of the Dallas Holocaust Museum
In Fear of War V
1991, acrylic on masonite, 32x72 in
In the collection of the Dallas Holocaust Museum
In Fear of War VI
1991, acrylic on masonite, 32x72 in
In the collection of the Dallas Holocaust Museum
Stillness of the Night
2006, oil on canvas, 24x18 in
Inner Torment
1989, acrylic, 31x23x3 in
Seeking Truth
1989, ink on paper, 22x30in
Searching for Meaning
2005, oil on canvas, 24x30 in
Spirit Rising
2004, oil on canvas, 36x36 in
Joy-Pain
1968, acrylic sheet, 23x23x10 in
Joy-Pain
1968, acrylic sheet, 23x23x10 in
Inner Torment
1988, acrylic on paper, 30x22 in
Celebrating Fall in Aspen II
2003, acrylic on canvas, 4.5x9 ft
Dancing Waters
2001, acrylic on canvas, 48x60in
Chi I
1995, acrylic on paper, 30x22 in
Chi II
1995, acrylic on paper, 30x22 in
Chi II
1995, acrylic on paper, 30x22 in
Mark O'Conner Rhythms II
2004, oil-oil pastel on canvas, 26x55 in