Riversmith artist bio

Bridget Riversmith is a self–taught artist and animator with a disability from Iowa now living in Duluth, Minnesota.

“Growing up in rural Northwest Iowa can kill you. If the pollution from E-85 refineries and factory farms don’t get you, then maybe the unchecked wind will. The soul can get raggedy in such a spare and sparsely populated place, and scare up some fantastic terrifying visions to while away the dark hours. Red Rabbit turned up in my mind that way. My artwork is largely inspired by that trickster, as well as by dreams, stories, and memories of life in ‘Tornado Alley’.”

“For me, making art is all about transformation, creating something from nothing, and revealing what is hidden or forgotten. It’s hypnotic and feels like putting together a puzzle with no lid to the box for help. I’ve been making art since I was a kid, absorbing lots of storybooks (by Seuss, Silverstein, Gorey...) Sesame Street, The Muppets, and Rankin/Bass Productions so my artwork gravitates to animated brightly-colored characters. Making artwork is a really good method for taking the venom out of things that frighten me - I turn them into stories.”

“Six years ago I was rewiring lamps at Goodwill Industries in Duluth, hiding out at home and feeling pretty hopeless when I came across an announcement for the VSA arts of Minnesota Art of Employment conference. It read, ‘A career in the arts? This seminar will show you how.’ VSA helped me set goals for becoming a professional artist, and I participated in my first public art show at the Minnesota Fringe Festival a few months later. I've since gone from working at Goodwill to exhibiting my artwork and animation in Chicago, San Francisco, New York City, Toronto and Budapest.”

Since September of 2006, Bridget has been partnering with VSA arts of Minnesota, Arrowhead Regional Arts Council and ceramic artist Roald Molberg to found the Arrowhead Alliance of Artists With Disabilities (AAAWD).

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