A page from Blitt’s scrapbook with additional photo copy of words inside cards

Early evidence of Blitt’s interest in singing and dancing

As a child I was puzzled over racial inequality and yearned to see freedom and equal rights for all.

This early work seems coincidental to Blitt’s later “obsession” with one little girl, her daughter and then later, one little girl her granddaughter.

Early example of Blitt’s love of nature

This reflects early evidence of Blitt’s ability to see beauty everywhere

This is early evidence of Blitt’s life long concerns about the way people treat on another

Blitt has a passion for water and its movement.

Irwin is Blitt’s husband since 1951.

This painting signifies for Blitt the height of her painting career before becoming a sculptor and the realization of the great importance of white spaces in her paintings.

Connie, now Chela, is Blitt’s daughter.

Time spent with nature, music and creating in Aspen, Colorado has been a significant influence on Blitt’s life.

This painting was inspired by the book of the same title, which is a collection of poems and drawings by children in Terezin Concentration Camp.

Inspired by drummer Buddy Rich and his band.

Quoting Rita Blitt: The Passionate Gesture, 1977

Blitt recognizes her ‘yellow ball’ sculpture as pivotal work not only because it increased her understanding of the origins and evolution of her vision, but also because it has affected everything she has created thereafter.

“When I first saw my ‘yellow ball’ sculpture... it felt more like me than anything I had ever created. It came from a little doodle! I realized then that the doodles I had been discarding all my life were the essence of me.”

This sculpture inspired Blitt to take seriously the lines she had been drawing all her life and tossing in the waste basket. Everything created from this time on began with a spontaneous line.

“Repose” is a literal steel translation of one of my spontaneous drawings.

A wood Nessie Sculpture and a children’s book “Nessie the Sculpture” by Blitt are available for children’s activities.
“Nessie the Sculpture” can be downloaded on this website

Quoting Rita Blitt: The Passionate Gesture, 1977

Perhaps inspired by the music in the background, Blitt takes a conte’ crayon in each hand and begins drawing with two hands at once.

“At first shocked ... and somewhat embarrassed ... I ultimately knew I had to continue working with two hands in order to feel honest, to feel whole. I later wrote, “I feel like I'm dancing on paper.”

“In 1981 when with two hands I began creating ovals I said ‘I’m finished. This is what I’ve been struggling for ... all these years. Why have I been dancing all over the page?’”

Deeply moved by the music of Mexican Composer Mario Lavista and the words that he quoted from Chinese poet Li Po (701-763 A.D.) Blitt created her “Li Po Series.”

Lured by flowers, I lean on a rock and suddenly it becomes dark.

The furnace fire lights up earth and sky. Red sparks fly pell mell into purple smoke.

How like a bolt of white silk this water, turning the earth into a flattened sky.

Clouds turn dark with a hint of rain; On the placid waters.

I raise my cup to invite the moon to join me; It and my shadow make a party of three.

A lone boat, a sliver of moon facing the maple woods.

Blitt’s words inspired the world wide Kindness Campaign under the auspices of Stop Violence in Kansas City.

Inspiration is perhaps my best known sculpture. It was originally created 26 feet tall. Most recently it won a fifth prize in Italy’s Florence Biennale 2005. The Biennale version was renamed “Sensuously Stacked Steel.” The Biennale version also can be seen in this exhibit.

Winner of Fifth Prize Florence Biennale

“Big Eyes” was created from a spontaneous two-handed drawing.

During my “Black Box” period I decided to use my “I Do” drawing to create a flat, black sculpture, which I titled “Natural Powers.”

“I Do”, aluminum, 83 inches tall is presently installed on the grounds of the Aspen Institute in Colorado.

This painting was created as part of my burst of joy following the birth of my granddaughter.

“The black lines of this painting were painted in 1996 in a burst of joy after the birth of my granddaughter. I had no conscious intention of saying anything about a baby. I only wanted to dance across the huge canvas. I returned to this canvas in the following year and added the color.”

With one stroke, I said everything that I had to say and felt satisfied.

In 1993 I visited the studio of David Parsons as the Parsons Dance Company and the Billy Taylor Trio were improvising together. Very inspired, I created many drawings. The one that I now call “Jazz” was subsequently created into this sculpture.

This sculpture was created from one of my favorite spontaneous drawings.

On a voyage to Iceland, as 17 foot waves rocked the ship, I was energized by the power and motion of the surging water. I turned may paper to a horizontal position and let the turbulence guide my hand, thus creating a source for my “Iceland” sculptures.

I danced across a huge canvas with two hands at once. After seeing what I had created, I entitled this series my “Dancing Water Series.”

In celebration of Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, and to the glorious fall colors in Colorado, she painted “Celebrating Fall in Aspen I.” Feeling like I wanted to continue expressing myself, I painted “Celebrating Fall in Aspen II.” This was the first time I allowed a hint of realism to be expressed in my paintings since the 60s.

As I was working on Gravity and Time Arrow I kept feeling that they related to outer space. When it came time to title these sculptures I had just attended a seminar on Albert Einstein. These titles were inspired by the seminar literature.

“Spirit’s Delight” sculpture was created from a 1986 spontaneous drawing and has been made up to 12 feet in height.

When the first President Bush threatened to wage war against Iraq, Blitt was heart broken at the thought of her country, the United States, attacking another country. At this time, she painted her “In Fear of War” series.

A new sense of freedom provided by enlarged studio space allowed my lines to fly off and back onto the paper. Challenged to make sculpture out of these new drawings since there was no obvious form to extract, I cut along the lines and divided the rectangular paper into two to four shapes. These shapes were fabricated into wood sculpture that could be combined into a rectangle or creatively moved into various new configurations by myself or by the viewer.

At this stage of development in the “Black Box Sculpture Series” I began fabricating in steel, bronze and aluminum. I also decided to have the parts welded into permanent positions, At other times I chose to eliminate or duplicate parts of the original rectangle.