Rita Keegan facts for kids

Rita Keegan (born in 1949) is an artist, teacher, and archivist from America. An archivist is someone who collects and keeps historical records. She moved to England in the late 1970s.

Rita Keegan is known for using many types of art, like video and digital tools. She is famous for being part of the Black Arts Movement in the UK during the 1980s. This movement was important for Black artists. She also worked to document, or record, the art of people of color in Britain.

About Rita Keegan's Life

Rita Morrison was born in the Bronx, New York City. Her mother was from Dominica and her father was from Canada. She felt her childhood in the Bronx was similar to growing up in England or other Commonwealth countries.

Early Education and Art Training

Rita went to the High School of Art and Design. There, she studied illustration and costume design. Later, she earned a degree in fine arts from the San Francisco Art Institute. She learned from famous artists like photographer Imogen Cunningham. She also studied with the African-American artist Mary O'Neill. In the late 1970s, Rita Keegan moved to London, England.

How Rita Keegan Creates Art

Rita Keegan first trained as a painter. But in the 1980s, she started using new tools for her art. She began to use photocopiers and computers. She made both 2D artworks and larger art installations.

In 1984, she worked at "Community Copyart" in London. This place helped community groups make their own printed materials. It also let artists use photocopiers to create art prints.

Working with Art Groups

Rita Keegan helped start several art groups. She was a founding member of the Brixton Art Gallery in 1982. She also helped create Women's Work and Black Women in View. She helped organize Mirror Reflecting Darkly, which was the first art show by the Black Women Artists collective at Brixton Art Gallery.

From 1985, Rita worked at the Women Artists Slide Library (WASL). There, she created and managed the Women Artists of Colour Index. This was a collection of information about women artists of color. She also directed the African and Asian Visual Arts Archive from 1992 to 1994. In 2021, she had her own art show called Somewhere Between There and Here at the South London Gallery.

Teaching Art and Digital Media

Rita Keegan taught about New Media and Digital Diversity at Goldsmiths, University of London. She also helped start a digital media course for students there. This course was part of the Historical and Cultural Studies department.

Selected Art Exhibitions

Rita Keegan's art has been shown in many places. Here are some of her important exhibitions:

• 1983: Women's Work, Brixton Art Gallery, London
• 1985: Mirror Reflecting Darkly: Black Women's Art, Brixton Art Gallery, London
• 1990: Let the Canvas Come to Life with Dark Faces, Bluecoat
• 1991: Family Album: An exhibition by Brixton Black Women Artists, Copyart Resource Centre, London
• 1991: Four X 4 curated by Eddie Chambers, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton
• 1992: Trophies of Empire, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol and Bluecoat, Liverpool curated by Keith Piper
• 1992: White Noise: Artists Working with Sound, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
• 1993: Rites of Passage, ICA, London (solo show)
• 1995: Time Machine: Ancient Egypt and Contemporary Art, InIVA and British Museum, London
• 1997: Transforming the Crown: African, Asian and Caribbean Artists in Britain, 1966–1996, Studio Museum in Harlem, Bronx Museum of the Arts, and Caribbean Cultural Center (Manhattan), New York
• 1998: Family Histories: Eating with Our Memories, Sleeping with the Ancestors, 198 Gallery, London (solo show)
• 2006: Transformations, Lewisham Arthouse and Horniman Museum, London (solo show)
• 2021: Somewhere Between There and Here solo exhibition at the South London Gallery

See also

In Spanish: Rita Keegan para niños