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Rita Paradis Caldwell is a signature member of the Colored Pencil Society of America. Two years in a row Rita won awards for excellence at CPSA’s international, annual juried exhibitions. She won an award in the exhibition held in 2006 in Albuquerque, NM and in 2005 she won an award in the exhibition held in Chicago, IL. In 2007 she won an honorable mention in the Cape Cod Art Association’s National Exhibition and had a piece accepted into the Salmagundi Non-Members Exhibition. Her work was also accepted into the 2007 Academic Artists Association National Exhibition of Contemporary Realism and the Connecticut Pastel Society National Exhibition. Memberships include, the Cheshire Art League, Gallery 53 in Meriden, and she exhibits her work at the Fine Line Art Gallery in Woodbury, CT and serves on the board of directors at the gallery. Rita is now in her fifth year of teaching colored pencil techniques at Artsplace in Cheshire, Connecticut .

She earned a BA in English Literature from Concordia University in Montreal , Quebec in 1977 and went on to study printmaking at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. After receiving her BFA in 1983, she spent the summer in Florence, Italy as a student teacher in printmaking at the Studio Arts Center International.

In her colored pencil paintings, by using heavily applied, multi-layers of pigment, Rita achieves effects that imitate the look of photo-realism. She also works in pastels. Colored pencil paintings, pastels, etchings, and lithographs are held in private collections throughout the United States.

Contact information: rparadisc@hotmail.com