(Verbatim) Good Press!

Hey! This a really great article written by Susan Dunne. It's in the "CT now" part of the Hartford Courant. I like seeing my name in print. (And who doesn't?) I excerpted the parts about me...

Rita Valley is many things: a wage slave, a bottom feeder, a loser. She admits this.
"I don't make my living off my art. People ask me if I sell everything in my show. I say no, that's not why I do it," Valley says. "I see that look on their face, 'What a loser.' So I say fine, I'm a beautiful loser."
Valley, of Southbury, puts these phrases at the center of off-kilter tapestries. Several of her pieces are on show now at Real Art Ways in Hartford.
Her mix of materials is odd: silk with pleather, plaid with pictoral, accented by fringe, chains, streamers and other doodads.
"I like materials that are alternately beautiful and repulsive. It's beautiful but also kind of pushing you away," she says. "If they were just pretty, they wouldn't be interesting."
Her bleak phrases are not melancholy but humorously ironic. "I've never done a piece saying, 'Have a nice day.' I'm really repulsed by overly positive, knee-jerk modern philosophies," she says. "When someone says, 'Everything's just great, be happy,' I think, 'Really, come on.'"

"Loser" is one of Rita Valley's tapestries on show at Real Art Ways. (Rita Valley)

WAGE SLAVE, DISTRACTED DRIVING and SURFACE WORK are at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor St. in Hartford, until Sept. 11. realartways.org

Perseverance Furthers

(Just one of the many inscrutable moments to be found in our gardens. And I thought it was appropriate to put up a picture of something art-like but not actually art because (and this is a good thing) many of my most recent pieces are out in shows.)
Ahem! Yes, just in time for my birthday (that would be the 20th of July in case you're contemplating sending cards or exotic gifts!) I am finally in a show at Real Art Ways. This is a major event as I have attempted to show there for a good portion of my adult life. I guess it signifies that perseverance furthers (as the I Ching would tell us) and that sometimes just plain old being alive long enough pays off. It also helps to have friends who are artists and curators and who really like your work...
So despite having fallen victim to a mildly vicious summer cold- which everyone at work thoughtfully explored before passing it along to me, I am happy to be approaching 60 with an artistic milestone to celebrate. Hell, I've been making art a long time!

Wow! That's my name. It isn't an accident or a mistake. Earlier this week, a friend sent that along. (Thanks Elly!) I guess it reinforces that I really am having a one person show. And here it is- or a sampling of it:

Hey! The installation view that David Borawski (aforementioned artist/friend/curator) sent along last night actually appeared! Now you don't have to go see the show. Only kidding! I think I'm excited...
And people have to show up as there's two other shows opening that same night so there's bound to be overlap. Even if other people get lost looking for the bathroom or buying snacks, they will eventually stumble into my show.
I trust this last picture will show up; I looked at the preview page and it appeared as an un-openable icon. Too busy to try and figure out why. And too fed up with computers to want to bother!