For more than 10 years, the third grade students at Myers Elementary School have been welcoming professional artists into their classroom for the Artist in Residence program.
\nLast week, the students opened the doors for Halfmoon Township resident Alyce Ritti, who brought samples of her award winning mixed-media collage collection to share, and also offer some pointers to the aspiring young artists.
\n\u201cAt this age, these kids are impressionable,\u201d said Ritti. \u201cThis is a great opportunity for me to show the young people that art isn\u2019t always about painting and drawing. There are so many different forms and finding which inspires you most is all part of the fun.
\n\u201cI hope some of these students see that what I\u2019m doing is also art and a fulfilling professional life for me.\u201d
\nRitti studied art at the School of Visual Arts at Pennsylvania State University. Her award winning work can be seen throughout the United States and Europe.
\nHer work was accepted in Her Mark, published by Woman Made Gallery in Chicago. Her shows include the First Prize Solo Show at The Stage Gallery in Merrick, N.Y,; Images 2002 at the Robeson Gallery at Penn State University; the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh exhibition at the Andy Warhol Museum; and the 2002 Salon d\u2019Automne in Paris.
\nHer influences have been European and American rather than Asian because the clash and clatter of daily life have fueled her work.
\n\u201cMy mixed media pieces continue the collage tradition of critiquing human folly,\u201d said Ritti. \u201cThey are small statements on large themes.\u201d
\nRitti\u2019s work is easily distinguishable.
\nShe said with her passing years, she has developed a comic spirit and the unusual materials of mixed-media allows her to deal with serious subjects in playful ways.
\nHer works are constructed out of any material imaginable \u2013 found objects, fabric, paper, paint, beads, ribbons, lace and feathers.
\n\u201cThe frequently surreal images are always eye-catching and usually witty,\u201d she said.
\nThe works demonstrated at Myers Elementary last week captured the essence of the \u201cSeven Deadly Sins.\u201d
\nAccording to Terri Harpster, principal at Myers Elementary, the more than 100 third grade students spend a lot more time in the art room during Artist in Residence Week than their regular 40 minutes per week. Last week, Harpster said the students had the opportunity to construct their own mixed-media collages \u2013 all under the watchful eye of Ritti.
\n\u201cTheir work was very impressive,\u201d said Harpster. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing what these kids can produce.\u201d
\nOn Friday, the week concluded with presentations to all the students in the school. This presentation included a slide show with explanations of some of Ritti\u2019s work and a student-led parade through the cafeteria, that allowed the students to view the third graders\u2019 artwork of the week.
\n\u201cThis is a much different style than I would normally teach the third graders,\u201d said elementary art teacher Nancy Smith. \u201cBut we are glad to have someone that can show the children a different idea of what art is. We have some exceptionally artistic students here, and some have really picked up on her concept.\u201d
\nAs a showing of her gratitude, Ritti donated four pieces of her artwork for display at the school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For more than 10 years, the third grade students at Myers Elementary School have been welcoming professional artists into their classroom for the Artist in Residence program. Last week, the students opened the doors for Halfmoon Township resident Alyce Ritti, who brought samples of her award winning mixed-media collage collection to share, and also offer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}