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Rita Deanin Abbey

Art Museum

Discover a multidisciplinary artist known for painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, porcelain enamel fired on steel, stained glass, and computer art. Abbey is known for her abstract expressionism, figures, landscapes, and non-objective subject matter.

"The infinite wonder of nature has had the greatest influence on my work. I have explored desert landscapes and have been deeply affected by rock formations, vistas, sunsets, plants and wildlife, rivers, and the colors and textures of secret canyons. These places communicate and resonate with my nature.” ~ Rita Deanin Abbey

5850 North Park Street,
Las Vegas, NV 89149
Enter the parking lot off Tee Pee Lane

702-658-5097 Museum
866-450-1540 Toll-Free
info@rdamuseum.org

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Rita Deanin Abbey (American, 1930-2021)
Primal Earth Series III, 1/1 (Terrestrial Order), 1994
Bronze relief
37 1/4 x 33 x 5 1/4 inches
Art Series: Primal Earth Series/Sculptures 1993–1995
© Robert Rock Belliveau and Rita Deanin Abbey Foundation

In the forward of Abbey's Rio Grande book, William Fox writes about her use of characteristics of the desert in abstract compositions.

"To abstract" means to draw from, and away from, a particular instance, to get an essential form apart from pictorial representation. The desert lends itself to abstraction, appearing to us as if the flesh of the land had been drawn away and the intrinsic bones of the earth revealed." ~William Fox

Rita Deanin Abbey (American, 1930-2021)
Primal Earth Series III, 1/1 (Terrestrial Order), 1994
Bronze relief
37 1/4 x 33 x 5 1/4 inches
Art Series: Primal Earth Series/Sculptures 1993–1995
© Robert Rock Belliveau and Rita Deanin Abbey Foundation

In the forward of Abbey`s Rio Grande book, William Fox writes about her use of characteristics of the desert in abstract compositions.

"To abstract" means to draw from, and away from, a particular instance, to get an essential form apart from pictorial representation. The desert lends itself to abstraction, appearing to us as if the flesh of the land had been drawn away and the intrinsic bones of the earth revealed." ~William Fox
...

Rita Deanin Abbey (American, 1930-2021)

Primal Earth Series I, 1/1 (Rootstock), 1993
Bronze relief
37 1/4 x 33 x 5 1/4 inches
Art Series: Primal Earth Series/Sculptures 1993–1995
© Robert Rock Belliveau and Rita Deanin Abbey Foundation

Excerpt from Mapping the Empty, Eight Artists And Nevada. William Fox
"Abbey also seems to make art out of almost everything, whether drawing a nude, painting an abstract landscape, or building sculptures, gates, and fireplaces. But the core concern of her life's work to which she always returns is the land- a basic relationship manifesting itself in all of the aforementioned materials and media. I use the words land instead of landscape and relationship instead of theme because her art is not that of a viewer watching the scenery roll by outside a car window. When I say, for example, that she has explored Arches National Monument, I mean that she has lived and made art there, not just visited as a tourist. When I say that she understands geology, I mean that she has taught interdisciplinary courses in art and geology, published a book about it, and spends considerable amounts of time buried up to her elbows in environmental impact studies of the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, to which she remains adamantly opposed not just on principle but also on science. Land is not simply a subject for Abbey, but a significant fact of her life that she examines daily."

Rita Deanin Abbey (American, 1930-2021)

Primal Earth Series I, 1/1 (Rootstock), 1993
Bronze relief
37 1/4 x 33 x 5 1/4 inches
Art Series: Primal Earth Series/Sculptures 1993–1995
© Robert Rock Belliveau and Rita Deanin Abbey Foundation

Excerpt from Mapping the Empty, Eight Artists And Nevada. William Fox
"Abbey also seems to make art out of almost everything, whether drawing a nude, painting an abstract landscape, or building sculptures, gates, and fireplaces. But the core concern of her life`s work to which she always returns is the land- a basic relationship manifesting itself in all of the aforementioned materials and media. I use the words land instead of landscape and relationship instead of theme because her art is not that of a viewer watching the scenery roll by outside a car window. When I say, for example, that she has explored Arches National Monument, I mean that she has lived and made art there, not just visited as a tourist. When I say that she understands geology, I mean that she has taught interdisciplinary courses in art and geology, published a book about it, and spends considerable amounts of time buried up to her elbows in environmental impact studies of the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, to which she remains adamantly opposed not just on principle but also on science. Land is not simply a subject for Abbey, but a significant fact of her life that she examines daily."
...

Join us on February 25 at 11 AM for this 90-minute creative writing workshop for beginners (or established writers wishing to try something new); we will look at artworks in the collection and explore art-inspired writing through interactive activities, including games. What to bring: Notebook, pen/pencil, comfortable shoes. Reserve your seat: https://rda-museum.square.site/events

RIta Deanin Abbey (American, 1930 -2021)
Pinon Jays, 1996
Plexiglass relief
27 1/2 x 26 1/2 inches. 
Art Series: Plexiglass Reliefs and Maquettes 1996
©Robert Rock Belliveau and Rita Deanin Abbey Foundation.
#humanities #ontheblog #poetry

Join us on February 25 at 11 AM for this 90-minute creative writing workshop for beginners (or established writers wishing to try something new); we will look at artworks in the collection and explore art-inspired writing through interactive activities, including games. What to bring: Notebook, pen/pencil, comfortable shoes. Reserve your seat: https://rda-museum.square.site/events

RIta Deanin Abbey (American, 1930 -2021)
Pinon Jays, 1996
Plexiglass relief
27 1/2 x 26 1/2 inches.
Art Series: Plexiglass Reliefs and Maquettes 1996
©Robert Rock Belliveau and Rita Deanin Abbey Foundation.
#humanities #ontheblog #poetry
...

I had a fun time talking about FREE First Saturday of the month at the museum  with Nkiruka Azuka on Fox Five, Studio Five.

I had a fun time talking about FREE First Saturday of the month at the museum with Nkiruka Azuka on Fox Five, Studio Five. ...