ABOUT THE EXHIBIT:
Rita Colantonio’s art style is very diverse, ranging from surrealism to abstract portraits to painterly still life and street scenes. She enjoys capturing people in their quiet moments, as well as street and travel photography. Many of her travel photographs end up as collages or painterly sketches. Her style is often graphic with bold colors and abstraction. Her love of the Masters and storytelling feeds her inspiration. Much of Colantonio’s work is based on interpretations of her photography. Her digital art skills and use of the iPad device allows for further creative exploration. A recent focus of her art has been on collage, both digital and analog, and geli plate printing. In this exhibit are featured many of her digital collage pieces.

ARTIST STATEMENT:
After 16 years as a public school art teacher I dreamed of coming to Cape Cod to create my own art. When I retired to Cape Cod in 2009 my dream was coming true. I started painting with watercolors and had 5 years of lessons with prominent watercolor artists at the Cape Cod Art Center. Around that time I began to photograph the beaches, ocean, marshes, flower gardens, vintage buildings and people. I found that my love of photography became a strong focus for me. I joined the Camera Club, doing well in competitions and exhibitions. But at some point I needed to make a choice on how I could focus my art. How could I bring together my love of painting and photography. The answer came with my first experiments with the iPhone and the editing apps I discovered. I became obsessed with creating images on my phone and later the ipadPro. There were many late nights discovering so many possibilities for creating art. So much inspiration to be had by others doing the same thing. It was a new medium, a new world of image making. It allowed me to let imagination take control with complete freedom to create.
Now at full circle I am rekindling my drawing and painting skills by experimenting with collage and mixed media work. The combination of photography, digital painting, collage and mixed media offer me opportunities to create endless forms of art.
Rita has exhibited her work both locally and internationally, winning many awards for her digital art. She is a member of four Cape Cod art organizations and holds a Master Designation at the Cape Cod Art Center. Rita has curated two large iPhoneography competitions at the Plymouth Center for the Arts. She has also led Digital Art groups and taught workshops in the area, including one for Cape Cod public school art teachers.