Bill Ritchie's art in the
Jan Nelson Collection
1963. "Movement to the Right." Oil on canvas. Approx 36 X 24 in. Blue, orange, white, black.
Artist's Comment: Jan sent me an email in 2000, telling me she still had my art and she made this snapshot of a 1963 painting, above. We were classmates at Central Washington University, taking painting courses from Sarah Spurgeon. Now I'm not sure what I was thinking, but there was a lot of political unrest on campus then, and the title suggests I sensed the conservative mood as part of those days in Ellensburg when the townfolk got upset because the college wanted to have a leading communist come to speak on campus.
1963. "Restraint." Drypoint. 4 3/4 X 4 in. Black on white.
Artist's comment: When I started making prints in my Junior year in college, our teacher, Ed Haines, gave us our start with aluminum plates. We could do drtypoints on this soft metal, and some of the scraps we had were oddly shaped. Apparently I liked this one. I started my music series this year, and musicians found their way into several print mediums.
1963. "Eight Trombones." Etching. 7 7/8 X 2 1/4 in. Black on white.
Artist's comment: Eight trombones resembles a print I did using another print medium, screenprint, in the other printmaking class--that of Reino Randall. Ed Haines was my professor for printmaking (and Art History). This is an etching, probably on a zinc plate, as copper was difficult to come by for poor art students. (You can see the screenprint in the collection of Jerry Olson.)