James Rizzi 1950-2011
I was very saddened to read this morning that artist James Rizzi has died at the young age of 61. We have Rizzi-themed artwork hanging all around my school right now, and I'm sure my students will be shocked by the news. Here's a link to a nicely written obituary.
Goodbye, James, and lets hope that your heaven is filled with buildings that are smiling and happy, with symbols of peace and love and goodness everywhere. And maybe some beeping cars filled with laughing people, and congestion and bridges and skyscrapers to make you feel like you are in your beloved New York City. Rest in Peace, James.
Phil, I just found out about this today too. I am so very sad.
ReplyDeleteHow sad.....I was looking forward to teaching a lesson about Rizzi to my students and being able to tell them that we were actually studying a living artist which we rarely do. I feel sad that the world has lost another great artist and humanitarian.
ReplyDeleteI have seen all sorts of lessons with James Rizzi as the inspiration. It is hard to see a contemporary artist pass. Will still have to do a lesson on him this spring.
ReplyDeleteThanks for passing this on to us.
Thanks for letting us know. How sad:( -- he was so young!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this. What a loss for us. So young. I never talked to him but saw his skype interview with a class and was touched that he took the time out of his life and was truly interested in talking with kids. I always thought highly of him for that.
ReplyDeleteKristyn, since your class did that wonderful Skype interview and spent time communicating with Mr. Rizzi, this must be especially devastating news for you and your students. Thanks for being the person who brought my attention to this joyful artist that I previously had known nothing about.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I am not sure how I go about telling the kids. Any advice? We still talk about Mr. Rizzi on a regular basis. He was a huge inspiration to many. I emailed his rep. and they plan to keep his art alive and want to continue to encourage art education.
ReplyDeleteThat's so very shocking. You totally introduced me to his work.
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