The gallery at Colorado Mountain College’s Aspen Campus is featuring “Works on Paper Retrospective” by part-time Aspenite and international award-winning painter, sculptor and filmmaker Rita Blitt. A free public reception will be held 4-7 p.m. on July 7.
Blitt has described the process of creating her art as “dancing on paper,” which she often does by using both hands at once, listening to music. Blitt says she has created some of her most important pieces in Aspen, many while listening to the Aspen Music Festival. In 2012, she was the Red Brick honoree and in 2011 her art was selected for the cover of the Aspen Music Festival program book.
Inspired by a lifelong interest in the performing arts, Blitt has partnered with musicians, composers, dancers and choreographers on a variety of projects ranging from musical sculptures to art films. “Caught in Paint,” a 2003 collaborative documentary with David Parsons, the Parsons Dance Company and photographer Lois Greenfield, received 16 awards and was shown in 130 film festivals including the Aspen Film Festival. “Abyss of Time,” a collaboration with composer Michael Udow, was featured in last summer’s Aspen Music Festival’s Contemporary Concert.
Blitt returns to Aspen this summer on the heels of her latest collaborative achievement. On June 6, Blitt and choreographer David Parsons debuted “Finding Center” at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Mo. The performance was inspired by a series of Blitt’s “oval” paintings and drawings from the 1980s. Projected over 25 feet in height, Blitt’s multi-hued orbs created an abstract, joyous display for Parson’s ensemble. One critic described the performance as “visually stunning, sometimes breathtakingly so.” The piece will be performed at New York’s Joyce Theater in January of 2016.
An exhibition of Blitt’s work is on display at the CMC Aspen Campus gallery through Aug. 13. To find out when the gallery is open to the public, please call 925-7740.
Colorado Mountain College in Aspen is at 0255 Sage Way at the Aspen Airport Business Center. Contact Alice Beauchamp, CMC ArtShare director, at 947-8367 or abeauchamp@coloradomtn.edu for more information.