For those of you who have not had the opportunity to see this amazing exhibit, there is still time. Betsy’s work will remain up until July 27. The gallery is open this summer by appointment only. I have regular studio hours (Mon-Thursday, 8:30-6:00 pm) but may run out for appointments so call ahead.

Also, we have a new Songmill session scheduled on July 27, Sunday, from 4:30-6:30 with award winning songwriters Mike Laureanno (RI) and Laura Zucker (CA). be sure to visit http://www.songmill.com for details.

Betsy Ritz has loved music and art since even before she learned to play violin in 6th grade and got a Kodak Instamatic camera for Christmas in the fourth grade.

Growing up in the Finger Lakes of New York and Montana, she spent a lot of time outdoors, appreciating nature and developing her artistic sensibilities. She made several 8mm short films in high school, and thought of going to film school, but ended up majoring in Broadcast Journalism and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California.

Leaving California, Betsy went on to graduate school at Rutgers University majoring in English. Upon graduating, she worked in various jobs that combined her editing skills and her photographic abilities – editing publications for a nonprofit science and health organizationand covering municipal meetings for a newspaper. When she moved to Waco, Texas, with her husband, Rick Battistoni,  her editing and photography skills led to her employment with Texas Gardener magazine,

After spending 10 years in Texas, and giving birth to three native Texans, Betsy and family moved to New Jersey and then Rhode Island, where she has an art studio and darkroom in an old mill building in Pawtucket. She received a certificate in Drawing and Painting Studies from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2007, and also has taken several classes online with the Museum of Modern Art.

Betsy works in oil paint and gouache, mixed media, cement, and color and black and white photography. She works with a panoramic Wide-lux film camera in addition to 35mm. Betsy has shown her work throughout the country, including in Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Brooklyn, NY; Attleboro, MA; and Providence, RI.

In 2008 Betsy picked up her violin again, started taking Celtic music lessons at the Blackstone River Theatre in Cumberland, and is now a fiddler with the Broad Street Fiddlers and with Mary Ann Rossoni’s band.

In the Songmill on June 27

Mike Laureanno • Laura Zucker