Bio
Risa Tritabaugh grew up in small town Minnesota, where there were few opportunities to experience art outside the school classroom. Regardless, her love for art grew and at an early age she came to the realization that she wanted to be an artist , specifically a painter. “My oldest brother came home from college with a poster of a Renoir painting. Looking at it, I had my earliest ‘aha’ moment...feeling deep inside the calling to be a painter.”
Throughout high school, Risa took advantage of every art class offered, even skipping study hall for an extra hour of art. Upon graduation, she headed to the BIG city: Minneapolis. There she was inspired by the riches found at local art museums, including an original Renoir! Soon she found herself taking classes in the art department at the University of Minnesota, but eventually left to start a family.
There was little time for making art over the next 20 years, as she navigated an ugly divorce and turned her attention to raising two children as a single parent. While there was little extra time or money, she still heeded the call to make art–even if only in a small corner of her bedroom or alongside her children at the dining room table.
Things began to shift as her children became adults and struck out on their own. Risa began to paint more and think about her work in new ways. In 2007 she rented a studio in the artist community of Lowertown St. Paul. With a separate space dedicated to painting, Risa began producing more work, and in the Fall of 2007 opened her studio for the St. Paul Art Crawl.
Risa continues to participate in the St. Paul Art Crawl, as well as exhibit her work in other venues. She lives and works in an artist loft located in Lowertown’s Tilsner Artist Co-operative, alongside her husband (a writer/actor). She is thrilled to now be painting full-time.
Artist Statement
This has been a time of great growth for me as an artist. I continue to paint with acrylics and my work is increasingly abstract in nature. I embrace the challenges of working with acrylics and pushing the limits of the medium. Acrylics compel me to work quickly, forcing me to think on my feet. Recently I have begun incorporating more depth and texture in my paintings with the use of light molding paste and gel mediums. Working with a palette knife or brush, I lay down many layers of color, often using a cloth or even my fingers to blend or wipe away colors to reveal the mystery of what lies beneath.
Though the work has been slow and challenging and at times it has been a struggle to find my creative voice, I see this work mirroring my struggle to create a new vision of myself at an unique crossroads. The work goes hand and hand. I continue to explore what it means to be an artist, to be 50 and face the challenges while also celebrating the milestones that go with all these identities.