Sara Ritz: September 2011

Biography

Sara was valedictorian of her class at Moore College of Art and Design, BFA, summa cum laude, in two majors: 3-Dimensional Fine Art and 2-Dimentional Fine Art, including sculpture, clay, painting, drawing, metal and wood, with the highest honors in her majors (1990) and is certified by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in art education, K-12. Sara earned an M.Ed, summa cum laude, Tyler School of Art, Temple University (Thesis: “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Teaching Art and Mathematics”, 1994), including course work in multi-media, new media and digital media.

Sara is currently teaching and co-developing a Small Metals and Jewelry program at Germantown Academy. As an avid practitioner and a supporter of the arts, she serves as a director on the board of the nationally renowned Abington Arts Center, where she reviews, evaluates and helps create arts programming. Sara is a practicing artist, currently working on a commissioned Torah cover for Congregation Kesher Shalom’s 300+ year Ethiopian-transcribed scrolls. Having recently completed a 6’ by 8’ mural at Germantown Academy Library, Sara also was part of a community-build, producing a life sized painted tree house with 1st and 2nd graders, enabling each student to make a personalized, hand painted leaf for the tree. Every year Sara works with the 5th graders to parade 150-foot long Dragon which she created with the children who bring it life with a dance in honor of the Chinese New Year. In addition to leading collaborative creativity projects at Germantown Academy, she has also served as a visiting artist and a substitute teacher in lower, middle and upper school art, sculpture and photography courses as well as Middle School Chair of the Parents Committee.

Sara was an art instructor and program coordinator at the Moore College Art and Design for the Young Artist Workshop (YAW) over 11 years as well as an Adjunct Lecturer for Art Education for several terms during her tenure. Sara established Sculpture Curriculum for the College’s YAW, grades 9-12 and Introductory Sculpture Curriculum for the College’s YAW, grades 1-6. She also established Ceramics and Sculpture Curriculum for University City Arts League. Sara was Contributing Sculptor on outdoor sculpture project, permanent installation, Penns Landing, Philadelphia. She was senior recruiter of freshmen for the Sculpture and 3D Fine Art program and directed the Student Gallery at the College. Over her tenure, Sara taught portfolio preparation, sculpture, painting, basic drawing, advanced drawing, life drawing and ceramics to high school and pre-college students (1988-99).

Sara was the art teacher for 6 years with the Bensalem School District, grades 6-8. She developed and successfully implemented middle school art curriculum, with keen sensitivity to the diverse environment (10+ different languages spoken at the school). Sara’s innovative approaches included creating the ancestry quilt and 10’ x 8’ tall dromedary, both featured in Bucks County Courier Times. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Sara chaired or co-chaired Professional Development Committee, the PRIDE Committee (the program to recognize and reward positive actions in young people), Mission Statement Committee and Faculty Spotlight Committee (1990-96).

Earlier, Sara worked as a long term substitute with the Centennial School District’s Log College Middle School. She was also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Counsel for the Arts to be an Artist in Residence at the Germantown Academy, and was a student teacher at the Jenkintown High School. Sara was instructor of Ceramics at the University City Arts League and instructor of Crafts at the Annenberg Center’s Youth Arts Festival, University of Pennsylvania.

Sara’s mosaic work “The Pomegranate” has been featured in the Philadelphia Magazine’s Home & Design 2007 summer issue as the winner of the “Best Design” for traditional kitchen, which she had also created and designed, with the mosaic as the centerpiece. For Twisters Wellness Center in Ambler, PA, Sara created mosaic work comprising shards of glass, rocks, shells and other objects from her travels around the world representing the global approach to yoga that Twisters employs in their studio.
Earlier Sara created two permanent murals at The Meadowbrook School, where she also designed and painted stage scenery for several musicals. Sara has collaborated with the School’s classroom instructors, teaching art history, drawing, sculpture and the art of observing the simple beauty in life. As a member of the School’s Admissions Committees, she helped with recruitment.

Sara’s work has been exhibited at diverse venues including the Abington Art Center Juried Art Exhibition, Tyler Gallery Graduate Thesis Exhibition “Chards of Dreams”, Moore College Art and Design Gallery YAW Faculty Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum Drawing Exhibition and Allentown Art Museum Juried Show to name a few and received a Pennsylvania Counsel of the Arts, Artist in Education Grant. Solo Exhibition, Jenkintown School District, Jenkintown PA (Curator: Virginia McKenna); Clay Studio Benefit Exhibition and Auction, Philadelphia PA; Windsor Space Group Exhibition, Windsor Complex, Philadelphia PA (Juror: Dick Torchia, Director Levy Gallery); Small Paintings Juried Show, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown NJ (Juror: Jan Howard, Associate Curator of Baltimore Museum of Art); Artemisia Presents These Women Artists, 633 Gallery, Philadelphia PA (Juror: Jeanne Nugent, Artist/Critic); 22nd Juried Show, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown PA (Juror: Lynne Zelevansky, Associate Curator Departments Sculpture and Painting, Museum of Modern Art, MOMA, New York NY); Works on Paper, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown NJ (Juror: Alison Weld, Assistant Curator of the Fine Arts Bureau of the New Jersey State Museum); Clay in the East, Zeller Gallery, Penn State University, State College PA (Jurors: Ken Vavrek, Jack Thomson, Artists/Professors); A Juried Show, Main Line Center for the Arts, Philadelphia PA (Juror: Rudolph Staffel, Artist/Professor); A-Dress-Per-Space, Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia PA; Caring and Sharing, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia PA (Jurors: Dick Torchia, Director Levy Gallery and Charlie Kaprilian, Artist/Educator); Caring and Sharing, Levy Gallery for the Arts, Philadelphia PA (Juror: Dick Torchia, Director Levy Gallery); Clay in the East, Levy Gallery for the Arts, Philadelphia PA (Juror: Dick Torchia, Director Levy Gallery).

Resumé

AREAS OF ARTISTIC EXPLORATION:

My work is inspired by reflecting on anthropology, organic form, femininity and the broader concept of family. This includes examining the vessel as a symbolic representation of self, fertility and motherhood. I also enjoy exploring the sculptural concepts of visual tension and teetering on the edge. I am interested in juxtaposing different forms by way of contrasting motion with stasis, heft and weightlessness, light and dark, the complete and the fragmented. I am fascinated by materials and enjoy the explorations of surface and depth and the resulting symbolic overtones. I explore lyricism in the mundane. I am also interested in forming greater meaning from arranging ubiquitous objects into collections thereby elevating the whole into a formal system.

SELECTED COMMISSIONED WORK:

2011 Torah Cover for Congregation Kesher Shalom’s 300+ year Ethiopian-transcribed scrolls

2010 Large Scale Outdoor Fresco for private collector (Mr. and Mrs. K. Roshkoff, Villanova PA)

2009 Adobe Garden Figurative Vessels for private collector (Ms. Maxine Stonehill, Ventnor NJ)

2009 Cement Garden Figures for private collector (Mr. and Mrs. T. Gibson, Huntington Valley, PA)

2008 Mosaic Installation with glass, rocks, shells and other objects from four (4) continents reflecting the global approach to wellness (Twisters Wellness Center, Ambler, PA)

2007 Mosaic work “The Pomegranate” featured in the Philadelphia Magazine’s Home & Design 2007 summer issue as the winner of the “Best Design” for traditional kitchen

2007 Mosaic Platter with terracotta, glass, indigenous materials for corporate collector
(Xtium LLC, Wilmington DE)

2005 Mosaic Platter with terracotta, glass, indigenous materials for corporate collector
(NTERA, Inc., Dublin, Ireland)

1996 Abacus Totem with cast Portland cement and vermiculate for corporate collector (Circa Restaurant, Rittenhouse Sq., Philadelphia, PA)

1994 Contributing Artist – Cast Bronze Mermaid Figures for the Penns Landing Complex
(Philadelphia, PA)

SELECTED COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS:

2007-present Annual build and performance of 150-foot long Dragon, created with fifth grade students who bring it life with a dance in honor of the Chinese New Year.

2010 Life sized painted tree house created with 1st and 2nd graders, enabling each student to make a personalized, hand painted leaf for the tree

2006 Theater set building and design with BMI playwright and composer Kristen Bair for The Meadowbrook School (Rydal, PA).

2004-2005 Two permanent murals for The Meadowbrook School (Rydal, PA)

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

1988-1999 Annual Faculty Exhibition Moore College of Art and Design (Philadelphia, PA)

1997 Solo exhibition (The Black Banana, Philadelphia PA)

1994 Graduate Thesis Exhibition “Chards of Dreams” (Tyler School of Art Temple University, Philadelphia PA).

1990-1994 Juried Art Exhibition Abington Art Center (Jenkintown, PA)

1993 Drawing Exhibition Woodmere Art Museum (Philadelphia, PA)

1992 Clay in the East, Zeller Gallery, Penn State University, State College PA (Jurors: Ken Vavrek and Jack Thomson, Artists/Professors)

1992 Clay Studio Benefit Exhibition and Auction, Philadelphia PA

1992 Windsor Space Group Exhibition, Windsor Complex, Philadelphia PA (Juror: Dick Torchia, Director Levy Gallery)

1991 Small Paintings Juried Show, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown NJ (Juror: Jan Howard, Associate Curator of Baltimore Museum of Art)

1991 Artemisia Presents These Women Artists, 633 Gallery, Philadelphia PA (Juror: Jeanne Nugent, Artist/Critic)

1990 Solo Exhibition, Jenkintown School District, Jenkintown PA (Curator: Virginia McKenna)

1990 22nd Juried Show, Allentown Art Museum, exhibited work reviewed by Geoff Gehman, Art Museum Work Speaks in Aggressive Tones, Allentown Morning Call, January 13, 1990 Allentown, PA (Juror: Lynne Zelevansky, Associate Curator Departments Sculpture and Painting, MOMA, New York NY)

1990 Works on Paper, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown NJ (Juror: Alison Weld, Assistant Curator of the Fine Arts Bureau of the New Jersey State Museum);

1990 A Juried Show, Main Line Center for the Arts, Philadelphia PA (Juror: Rudolph Staffel, Artist/Professor)

1990 A-Dress-Per-Space, Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia PA

1989 Caring and Sharing, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia PA (Jurors: Dick Torchia, Director Levy Gallery and Charlie Kaprilian, Artist/Educator)

1989 Caring and Sharing, Levy Gallery for the Arts, Philadelphia PA (Juror: Dick Torchia, Director Levy Gallery)

1989 Clay in the East, Levy Gallery for the Arts, Philadelphia PA (Juror: Dick Torchia, Director Levy Gallery)

Sara Ritz

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Portfolio