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  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  in 1983 as well, with many of them printed as cards. It’s
sort of a silver anniversary for these two bodies of work.
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.
 Armed
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.
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 Rita 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  capacity, 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.
 Enjoy 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.
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