Carolyn Reed Barritt

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Carolyn Reed Barritt’s artworks are a combination of raw, fluid expression and deliberate, controlled mark-making. Her drawings and paintings exist between the diametrical realms of abandon and restraint and are borne of a balance between doing, then contemplating, then doing again: immediacy supported by intention. The off-balance imagery she explores springs from her interest in topics that teeter between science and fiction, such as artificial intelligence, automation, and space. Barritt’s practice includes large and small scale paintings and drawings on canvas and paper. She creates her artwork with acrylic ink, acrylic paint, graphite, charcoal, oil pastels, oil stick, and wax crayons. 

The artwork in Barritt's exhibition, Puppet Show, began to take shape in the middle of 2020 and into early 2021. The colors, forms, and repetitions in the artwork that sprang from this extra-ordinary time reflect not only the desire for a return to the ordinary but also the longing for the extra-ordinary. Dog walking became therapy. Solace found in the vastness of a clear blue sky. Abstract and vulnerable jet-pack laden character waiting to fly. Bright orange vibrating against a field of blue. Barritt sought and captured the remarkable in the mundane. The paintings and drawings in Puppet Show are just the beginning of this continuing exploration of color, form, and narration.

Barritt grew up in Carlton Minnesota and received a BA in Art from Macalester College in St. Paul Minnesota. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally, including at Site:Brooklyn (New York), Dab Art (Ventura California), and the Alexandria Museum (Alexandria, Louisiana). Barritt’s artwork has appeared in film productions including Bloodlines (TV series) and Where’d You Go, Bernadette (feature film). Public collections like The Kimpton Dewitt Amsterdam, Hilton Hotel, and Bank of Ann Arbor included her artwork in their collection. She lives and works in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

portfolio.jpg View images from Carolyn Reed Barritt's 2021 Exhibition, Puppet Show. Save the date for Carolyn's upcoming exhibit, Tomorrow Today, June 5th - July 5th, 2024.

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