ARTspace

ARTSPACE

IMMIGRANTS…UNTOLD STORIES BY RITA WILMERS

On display May-July (you do not need to be a member to visit, click here to view our building hours)

Who do you see as you gaze at me? What story runs through your mind? I may be of a different color, the shape of my eyes unlike yours, and wear different garments. I may be of a different religion and speak in a foreign tongue, and ask you…do we not all have a heart that beats? I begin anew in a foreign country, leaving or fleeing my home for a safe and better life.

IN HER OWN WORDS
As an artist, I am often asked the question, “How long did it take you to do that painting?” My answer: “A lifetime.”

Through my art, I have a voice. Each painting tells a story. Movement, texture, and color are an integral to my process. My mixed media incorporates layers of acrylic, enamel, papers, pen, and recycled materials. As a Fashion Institute of Technology graduate and childrens wear designer, the use of fabric, threads, and trims kept through the years are revisited.

I am an “explorer,” creating with no boundaries. As I work, “mistakes” become joyful surprises.

Highlights of my career include having 24 paintings featured on the TV series Gossip Girl. Several of my paintings were included in an international exhibition in 2010 of contemporary artists at the Jinzhijian Museum of Art in Beijing.

In 2016, I published Jacob’s Journey, a series of 18 paintings and poems, all connected through a narrative.

Spanning a 25-year period as a teaching artist, I received a certificate from Lincoln Center Institute’s National Educator Workshop.

Currently, I have a body of work on display at the Cultural Center of Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens, Queens.

I have exhibited in a multitude of solo and group exhibitions across the Tri-State area, including the Kaufman Arcade building in the Garment Center of Manhattan, Manhasset Public Library, Manhattan Theatre Source, Shelter Rock Art Gallery, National Art League, and Art Lab Gallery at Snug Harbor on Staten Island, and have been the recipient of numerous awards, and featured in several art publications.

I am part of a cooperative at the The Art Loft and work out of my studio in Port Washington.

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