Description
Title: Artist & the Studio
Medium: water color
Size: 8.25″ x 8.25″
Artist’s Statement
Richard Pitts grew up in a traveling military family, finally settling in Asbury Park, NJ. While enrolled in Newark College of Fine and Industrial Arts in 1959-60, he met his first Fine Art mentor, Reuben Kadish. As a childhood friend of Phillip Guston and best friend of Jackson Pollock, Kadish, a sculptor, introduced Richard to the expanded qualities and spiritual depth of painters like Giotto and Titian. Filled with inspiration, Richard moved to New York City in 1960. He then attended Pratt Institute, studying with painter Ernie Briggs.
In 1968, Richard rented a storefront on First Street and the Bowery and was one of the founding members of the First St. Gallery – which still exists today, though it is now in Chelsea.
After exhibiting there in 1970, Richard joined the faculty at the Kansas City Art Institute.
In 1974 he taught in the Fine Art Department at the NYC Fashion Institute of Technology, helping develop a four-year major in Fine Arts. During his tenure, he was awarded the New York State Chancellors Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1990. Richard was the master printer and head of Printmaking in the Fine Arts Department. His multi-media work is featured in Modern Printmaking by author and artist Sylvie Covey.
