Assistant teaching professor Rebecca Levitan on what drives and inspires her work.

“men working”
By Rebecca Levitan, Assistant Teaching Professor,
Painting and Two-Dimensional Design

2022
Acrylic and oil on canvas
47” x 36”
A painting in the form of a poster that has been torn away to reveal the previous poster beneath. The background is a repeat pattern I designed.

When I was 4 years old and my mom was pregnant with my brother, I decided to make her the best card ever. It would have a drawing of everything that existed in the whole world. Mom. Dad. Me. A rainbow, a house, a hammock. Flowers, trees, buildings, shampoo. Every morning at preschool, I added to the Technicolor drawing, filling every inch of the card. I was proud of my accomplishment until a few weeks after my mom and brother came home from the hospital when I suddenly realized the card wasn’t complete because I had forgotten to draw a boot.

I’m still trying to make work that doesn’t leave out the boot. Work that sets out to capture the world, but instead of starting with its monuments and major figures, begins with its flotsam—crumpled up candy wrappers, clothespins, and jars of pickles.

My paintings are concerned with capturing ordinary moments using materials, techniques, and compositions that grapple with the experience of living in a world at least as virtual as it is physical. I think of the practice of painting as creating perfumes from fleeting images.

In my teaching, I strive to foster an environment where students feel comfortable taking risks and I support them in building the skills to attain their artistic vision. I want all students to thrive and come out of class believing they have something valuable to say.

—Rebecca Levitan

---

Rebecca Levitan grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and now divides her time between Brooklyn and Kingston. She studied art and linguistics at Harvard University and painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and worked and studied Arabic in the Middle East. Her paintings have been shown at the NARS Foundation, Morgan Lehman Gallery, and Asya Geisberg Gallery, among others.