Kimberly Anderson Ritchie is an Associate Professor of Art and Coordinator of the Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking programs at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, NH. Ritchie received her Masters of Fine Art in Printmaking from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado and her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Ritchie’s artistic practice focuses on an array of environmental issues. She is an interdisciplinary artist who works with a variety of processes including printmaking, paper arts, photography, painting, drawing, installation, and the use of natural materials. She has taught, exhibited, and attended artist residencies throughout the United States and internationally in China, Sweden, Iceland, and Greece. Ritchie is constantly researching, collecting, and exploring the natural world. Her current work evolves around an in-depth study of environmental issues, from air pollution affecting lichen, global climate change affecting sea level rise, to our dependence on plastic and the effects it has on the world’s oceans. The artwork is a response to the research; some works simply use the issue as a starting point while other work clearly displays the concern. Ritchie is trying to bring the beauty, mystery, and conservation of the land back into our daily focus through the image-making process. The artwork is a way of internalizing the natural world and expressing concern. |