April 22, 2021

Esther Ritz

Esther Ritz was born in New York City and moved with her family to Dallas when she was in the ninth grade, making her, in her own words, from Dallas ever since. As a child, her parents encouraged her artistic interests and gave her art lessons, which she enjoyed, though she did not yet think of herself as an artist. Later, as a young married woman with young children, she continued to take art lessons as a hobby for several years before setting painting aside.

In her adult life, Esther became a lawyer and worked in the business world for many years. After retiring around the late 1990s, before the year 2000, she took up painting again and considers that the point when she officially became an artist. For about twenty years she has focused seriously on her painting, describing it as a tremendously important outlet for emotion, a way to get lost and block out the rest of the world, and something that kept her going, especially during the pandemic.

Esther works almost exclusively in acrylic paints on paper or canvas, though over the years she has also used watercolor, oil wash, oil pastels, and collage. Her style is free, colorful, and expressionistic rather than realistic, drawing on imagination and intuition rather than still life or landscape. She loves vivid, contrasting colors and the energy created by combining them. During the pandemic she created a series titled Pandemic, reflecting the anxiety, lack of control, and fear that she and those around her felt. As a Jewish artist, she describes her work as universal rather than tied to any group, and she hopes viewers bring their own feelings and interpretations to each piece.

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