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My Artwork

fouraustinhorse Rita Trapani has a Masters of Fine Arts degree from Herbert H. Lehman College (formerly Hunter College in the Bronx, CUNY).  She taught K – 12 art for 32 years at several grade levels, including ten years at the graduate level as an associate adjunct professor at Adelphi University.  She developed the graduate course she taught herself, involving the acquisition and creative use of recyclable materials in the art room long before it was fashionable to be “green”.  Some of her works contain recycled items, including restorable picture frames.

 

Her work includes all types of portraiture, photography, quilts, a substantial body of original poetry, humorous song lyrics, logo and graphic art, carousel horse art, hand-painted jackets, custom home drawings for cards and prints, and her choice of media is tailored to the job at hand, with a soft spot for pen and ink, and colored pencil.  In 1983 she produced a calendar for horse lovers with 12 original comical characters, now in the process of being reincarnated as cards and tee-shirts.  In addition to these “tongue-in-cheek” creatures, her 37 original Long Island hunt scene paintings made their debut blondesurreyin 1983 as well, with many of them printed as cards. It’s sort of a silver anniversary for these two bodies of work.

 

C J cover sleigh1

Rita provided the illustrations for her husband, Jerry’s book Equine Hoof Care, (Arco, 1983),  as well as many of the photographs, including the cover.  Her work has been featured numerous times on L.I. Horse Directory magazine, as well as covers for The Chronicle of the Horse, The Whip, and the January 2008 cover of The Carriage Journal. In 1987, Rita won a 1st place in the Carriage Association of America’s Carriage Showcase with her restoration of a 1906 Brewster Bronson wagon.  She has restored several other vehicles, including sleighs. A life-size photograph (24” x 24”) of her painting, “The Romance Side” still hangs on its own wall outside the Garden Terrace Restaurant at Belmont Racetrack since 1989.

 

 

carouselhorsebystein&goldsteinArmed with a Masters in Fine Arts degree and 32 years of teaching experience, I had the chance to give back to many of my students what had so graciously been given to me. Being aware of how students learn and create puts an edge on one’s own work, and re-affirms the adage, “You learn something new every day.” That “something new” enabled me to work and exhibit in different mediums and in both two and three dimensions.

 

 

 

Click individual Artwork to see larger version.

pairandcouple

terrierRita is an artist-member of Guild Hall in Easthampton, Long Island, and has shown her work in its Members’ Exhibitions for 20 years. She is an exhibiting member of the Art League of Long Island, the Long Island Craft Guild, and her photography has been exhibited at the Long Island Museum of Art, History, and Carriages.  She’s a contributing editor to several publications and is the Secretary and Newsletter Editor of the Paumanok Driving Club of Long Island.  Rita is also the Newsletter Editor of The Insider, the newsletter of the Long Island Dreamboats (the metro region chapter of the Cadillac-LaSalle Club of America).

 

It is highly unlikely that you will find her and her work in the vendors’ section of any event, since she is always working at them in another paircapacity, or is assisting her husband, Jerry, with their driving horses.  This world and the equestrian community in general have nevertheless inspired my work through the years.

 

weddinggreyscaleEnjoy the artwork on this website, and feel free to inquire after them. Cards and prints and some originals, (some, one-of-a-kind pieces) are for sale at reasonable prices, and commissioned work is welcomed.

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy this selection of work. Most of it is available in cards or prints.

Click individual Artwork to see larger version.