Senior art major's talent as an illustrator is earning praise

Originally published on Eastern Michigan University's official website on 11/5/2014 (http://www.emich.edu/univcomm/releases/release.php?id=1415216631)

Art Credit | Rita Riggs

When Eastern Michigan University senior art major Rita Riggs left a silly comment (“I would marry you.”) on one of comedian Moshe Kasher’s Facebook statuses, she didn’t expect much of a response.
But Kasher, who has made several appearances on Comedy Central, took note of Riggs’ talent and offered a completely different proposal. He asked her to design a logo for his upcoming podcast.
“I was like, ‘Is he serious?’” Riggs says.

“I kind of turned it into a joke. I said, ‘Yeah, like you flying through space with a dog on your head.’ And he responded, ‘Yeah, maybe something kind of like that!’ So we ended up exchanging emails and I drew him something and he loved it.”

Kasher may be the most famous fan of Riggs’ work, but her artwork hasn’t gone unnoticed in the EMU community. Riggs, from Ann Arbor, is known for her signature “Rita Riggs boys,” which are hand-drawn, hand-painted portraits of young men.

According to Riggs, her boys are typically between the ages of 11 and 20, and usually have an androgynous quality. The illustrations exude the kind of strong, misunderstood emotions one would expect from a troubled teenage bad boy.

“I think that through that sort of figure I can get such a range of sensitivity and depth that is a little bit creepy and a little bit beautiful,” Riggs says. “That androgynous male – I think it maybe goes the same for androgynous females – but there’s something about (that form) where we can all relate to it. We can all sort of look at that character and see some kind of story (we) understand through that character.”

Art Credit | Rita Riggs

 Riggs’ knack for characterization plays a significant role in the creation of her art. In fact, Rita Riggs is a character herself, the alter ego of Rita Hillman, although she rarely goes by her birth name.

When Riggs first came to EMU, she was uncertain about her place in the art field. Initially, her heart was set on becoming a tattoo artist, but after an apprenticeship in the craft, she found that the work was too strict and client-based. She found herself instead delving into the world of illustration, which she describes as a “method of storytelling.”

“[Illustration is] a great way to create a world that you want to live in,” Riggs says. “So if you’re going through something in your life that is maybe boring or mundane, you can create an imaginary world that’s a lot more interesting, and then you can give that to someone.”

In order to follow her interest in illustration, Riggs carefully handpicked art courses to build her own program. She began by taking a number of drawing classes, then studied screen-printing, another crucial tool in the field; and is now trying her hand at graphic design.

Her involvement in the art world doesn’t end at the classroom door. Over the summer, Riggs curated a pop-surrealism show in Ypsilanti called Lavender Lava, which she says showcased creators in a variety of specialized art fields – tattooists, comic book artists, graffiti artists, and even a woman who specialized in making plush toys. Her show included a number of EMU alumni and EMU art professor Michael Reedy.