Affordable Quality Impressionist and Abstract Paintings and Prints
About K. Marita Walizer Resume, Bio, and What Makes Great Art
Studio: (405) 684-6567
www.bestamericanpaintings.com
prints@wadianewmandesigns.com
Marita Walizer is an internationally collected artist with the passion and rare ability to portray a wide variety of subjects. After thorough research, she has chosen to paint primarily in oils, with a painterly direct style that has a proven broad appeal to so many clients. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, she grew up in the Bluegrass region, spending countless hours around horses, including Secretariat, and learning from top horsemen and women. Her work hangs with the greatest past and present masters of western and sporting art, and the majority of her work captures life in a variety of inspired subjects - including landscapes, figurative works and preserving in art and life, the great food heritages and lifestyles of the Old West chuckwagons and pioneers, many cultures and contemporary chefs.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS: Scottsdale Artists' School's Alumni "Best and Brightest Show".
Oil Painters of America (OPA) West and Southwest Regional Show, Pueblo, CO
Oil Painters of America (OPA) Mountain Regional Show, Park City, Utah
Women Artists of the West (WAOW): International Show, George Orr Museum
Membership Show, Taos, NM, and San Juan Capistrano, CA
WAOW Small Works Show, San Juan Capistrano, CA
Festival of the Arts, Oklahoma City, (Top 10 U.S. Arts Festivals), 5 Years
Washington Intl. Horse Show, Landover, MD
World Championship Horse Show, Louisville, KY
Klausner / Cooperage Gallery (various exhibitions including Breeder’s Cup and KY Derby) 12 Years
Rolex 3-Day Event, Lexington, KY, 5 Years
Howell Gallery, Oklahoma City, OK, 20 Years
Plaza Arts Festival, Oklahoma City, OK, 4 Years
Horse of Course Gallery, Loveland, CO, 2 Years
American Academy of Equine Art Fall Show, International Museum of the Horse, Lexington, KY
Oklahoma Art Guild 5-State Regional Show (juror - Scott Christensen)
Remington Park Penthouse Gallery, Oklahoma City, OK, 2 Years
PAST AND PRESENT EXHIBITIONS / REPRESENTATION:
Howell Gallery, Oklahoma City, OK, 20 Years
Marcum’s Gallery, Anchorage, KY, 9 Years
Celeste Susany Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY, 4 Years
Klausner/Cooperage Gallery, Louisville, KY, 12 Years
The Galleria, Lexington, KY, 5 Years
Artist’s Studio, Oklahoma City, OK.
COLLECTIONS (Partial listing):
Marcy (Mrs. William) Shatner, CA and KY
Jeff and Mary Gaylord McClean, KY
Churchill Downs, Inc., KY
Brown-Forman, Inc. KY
Congresswomen Ann Northrup, D.C., OK
Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson, KY
R.S. and Natalie Riddick, AZ
Mrs. Isabel Robson, PA
Lee and Laura Young, OK
Boone and Linda Ellis, OK
Tom and Jean Oxley, Canada
Morris and Linda Blumenthal, OK
Mae Condon, KY
Larry and Cynda Ottoway, OK
Donnie and Robin Von Hemel, OK
William and Nancy Clatworthy, OH
Commissioner Denise Bode, D.C., OK
Steve and Becky Wetwiska, OK
John and Barbara McCune, OK
Cameron and Jane Purcell, Panama
John Hefner, OK
Bert and Mary Jane Croghan, FL
Dr. David Kallenberger, OK
Dr's. Ray and Sharon Rose, OK
Dr. Madeleine Cunningham, OK
Dr. Pattie Arnett, PA
Orthodontic Associates, OK
Dr. Paul and Mrs. Elizabeth Dungan, CO
Randall Shadid, OK
Coe London, OK
Nance Ranch, TX
Additional works are in private collections in CO, KY, MA, OK, TX, VA, and other states.
PUBLICATIONS Art of the American West: Book published by Rockport Publishing, 1998.
Appeared or mentioned in: Southwest Art, Art of the West, Art Talk, Spur,
Equine Images, Remington Park “Penthouse” Newsletter, Nichols Hills News,
Daily Oklahoman Newspaper (Oklahoma City).405 (Slice) Magazine, OKC; Voice-Tribune (Louisville, KY)
Also published in Women Artists of the West membership catalogs.
LECTURES / PUBLIC SPEAKING / TEACHING
Interview during Breeder’s Cup Week (National Public Radio) in Louisville, KY;
KOCO-TV (ABC), Oklahoma City; NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX news (Louisville, KY). KWTV9, (CBS) OK, Outdoor Channel
Lectures include the McDowell Club, Oklahoma Christian School, Edmond Fine Arts Institute,
and OKC Public Schools.
Taught Oil Painting, Metro School of Fine Arts, Edmond, OK.
Director of Cowboy Art Camp, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
AWARDS / HONORS / MEMBERSHIPS
Exhibitions (above): were mostly non-award shows. Some awards included:
National Artist Search Grand Prize winner for Brown-Forman’s collectible mint julep bottle design contest. My “Derby Cheers” painting appeared on the official mint julep bottle served at Churchill Downs during the Kentucky Derby. Prize of $5000 and trip for two to Ky. Derby. (earlytimes.com/2011bottleartistwinner)
Plaza Arts Festival, OK (Best in Oils, second and third place, Oils). Show had over
3,000 applications a year.
Oklahoma Art Guild 5-State Regional Show. All three works accepted by juror
Scott Christensen.
MEMBERSHIPS: *Oil Painters of America (Associate) - Member and Exhibitor
American Academy of Women Artists (Associate)
Women Artists of the West (WAOW) - Member and Exhibitor
Oklahoma Art Guild -Member and Exhibitor (*Past and Present)
EDUCATION University of Louisville, B.A., Science minor. Post graduate microbiology. Coursework prior to / during college includes years of classical art training, design theory, art history, with work in a variety of media including oil, sculpture, drawing, ceramics and watercolor. Research includes paint chemistry, materials, technique, also methods and history of world-wide impressionism, (especially Scandinavian, Spanish, Russian, French, and both past and present American painters). Worked as food technologist in recipe development, which sold millions of dollars of product for Standard Foods, Inc. Research into food heritages in America and other countries, especially the Old West.
MENTORS:
Ron S. Riddick - Internationally recognized and collected master painter. Exhibited at Smithsonian, etc. Signature member of America’s greatest art groups (Allied Artists of America; Oil Painters of America; Cowboy Artist of America, etc.).
Dr. Lawrence Scanlan, DVM. - Dr. Scanlan was one of the greatest equine vets, ever. Former track vet for Churchill Downs, “Larry” examined many great horses, including Secretariat and Majestic Prince, and many great show horses of the last 40 years.
Marita has been complimented, and often developed friendships or painted and studied with some of the greatest modern masters of western and equine art. They include: R. S. Riddick, Jim Wilcox, Tom Ryan, Valerie Hinz, Loren Entz, Louis Escobedo, Scott Christensen, Lorna Dillon, Celeste Susany, and Shawn Cameron.
WORKSHOPS: Ron S. Riddick, 7 Years, Jim Wilcox, 1 Year, Derek Penix 1 year. Demos by Bill Anton, Scott Christensen, Dan Gerhartz, Daniel Keyes, and many others.
Artist Bio and What Makes Great Art
K. Marita Walizer
K. Marita Walizer is from the Kentucky bluegrass region, and now lives in the American southwest. She has the very rare ability to portray any subject matter, rather than being limited to one or two specialties.
What makes her work so unique and appealing? She focuses on capturing casual, candid moments of quiet beauty when her subjects are working, playing, interacting with each other, relaxing--which is when you see their true selves. These are the universal moments and feelings we relate to and live on a daily basis. For example, we usually see horses pictured only during competition, or stiffly posed to show their best features. Her passion is to catch the natural interactions and beauty that occurs where horsemen and women know most of their time is spent--during daily works and stable activities. Such compositions tell us more about personality and spirit, are more insightful and exciting.
"I'm always searching for fresh, new perspectives and ideas to portray naturally captivating subjects, avoiding cliches or things overly romanticized. Impressionist works have a deceivingly spontaneous look. It takes enormous planning and a better hand and eye to portray an "impression" or suggestion of light striking a surface, rendering only the most important forms and colors, than to paint too much detail and spell everything out for the viewer, loosing the mystery element. Unlike unset cameras, artists can selectively delete details necessary to improve the total look of the painting. Personal vision, soul, skill and imagination combine to create art, so much more than copying details. True skill is found in saying things as simply as possible".
"Great paintings exploit the virtues and full range only oils can produce. They should contain a variety of color hues, temperature and intensity, values {light to dark}, size and direction of brush strokes, and wise use of detail. All of these elements should be pleasingly balanced and used to emphasize the most important areas. The whole canvas shouldn't be treated the same way all over. Brush strokes should be varied and direct. in direct painting, each stroke is first thoroughly planned out mentally. When the brush strokes the canvas it is deliberate and passionate, never over-blended or "twiddled" to death. The colors should "sing" and sparkle. This is achieved by placing warm and cool colors near each other, or even better, by picking up two or more loosely mixed colors at a time and letting them sparkle with one iridescent brush stroke."
Great paintings are also well made. Marita uses only the finest oil-primed Belgian linen and other museum quality state-of-the-art archival techniques and materials to create true heirlooms for her pleased clientele. Countless hours of research plus craftsmanship combine to give you the best quality.
Classically trained, K. Marita Walizer studied art, design, and art history throughout her school years. This includes the University of Louisville, University of Kentucky, and visiting museums and galleries across the U.S. and Europe. She continues to study with the greatest representational masters of today, always willing to learn and take her work to even higher levels. She is grateful for years of invaluable mentoring and friendship by master artist R.S. Riddick and his wife, Natalie. Knowledgeable collectors and horse people have her works in private and corporate collections internationally, where her work hangs alongside many great past and present masters.