Continuing the Art of Play
April 1, 2026
Artist: Ida Kohlmeyer
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Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer became one of the most prominent abstract artists in the South. Influenced by her study with Hans Hofmann and fellow abstractionist Mark Rothko, she changed her style from representation to abstraction including the blurring of bands of color into large geometric shapes. In the 1970s, she developed a distinctive style using personalized symbols or hieroglyphs. Her work includes paintings utilizing grids and abstract sculpture in a variety of materials from Styrofoam to steel.
Warm-up + Project:
Grab all of your art-making tools! Just kidding, but seriously, the sky is the limit in your expressive mark-making, doodling, and playing this week.
Think:
Markings
Symbols
Color
Emotion
Movement
Freedom
Doodle
Stream of consciousness
And play, play, play!
To organize this unbridled creating, try working within a loose grid, but do not feel restricted; the symbols, markings, and drawings can break loose from the grid as well.
Let’s have some fun and begin this spring creative art exploration with JOY!
Quartered
1989
Serigraph (Ed. of 135)
38 1/4 x 35 inches
Cluster No. 54
1970
Mixed media on canvas
38 1/4 x 39 inches
Synthesis #31, 1982
Acrylic, oil stick, colored pencil, and graphite on canvas
60 x 60 inches
152.4 x 152.4 cm
Diminutives
1979
Serigraph (RTP)
Variable image size
14 x 11 1/2 inches paper size
Markings
1988
Serigraph (Ed. of 100)
30 x 40 inches
Rebus Drawing 92-5-2
1992
Mixed media on museum board
22 x 24.5 inches (image) 26 x 30 inches (board)
Rebus 94-4, 1994
Mixed media on museum board
5 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches
13.3 x 13.3 cm
Synthesis 88-13, 1989-91
Oil on canvas
68 1/2 x 80 inches
174 x 203.2 cm
Sculpture / Objects
Untitled, 1983
Painted black wood
11 1/2 x 5 1/4 x 3 1/2 in.
29.2 x 13.3 x 8.9 cm
Floral Complex
1990
Signed & dated
Mixed media on wood
32 x 25 x 16 inches
Mardi Gras Float
c. 1980
Styrofoam, oil enamel, wood
8 1/4 x 15 3/4 x 4 1/2 inches
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