about
Rita Koehler (b. 1966 Kansas City, MO)
Koehler is an American photographer and lens-based artist born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. She currently resides in South Bend, Indiana.
Koehler situates herself as artist in the debate of what constitutes an intelligible life – one that is speakable, has meaning, and is valued. The philosophy of her work is based on the premise that existence is relational and that to exist means to exist in communion.
Koehler received her BA in Psychology and Theology from Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN, completed her MFA in Visual Studies from Lesley University College of Art and Design (formerly the Art Institute of Boston), and completed a Certificate Program in Curatorial Studies through the University of Chicago. She currently is an Adjunct Professor with the Moreau Center Initiative through Holy Cross College and the University of Notre Dame.
Current solo show at Wittenberg University November 14 - December 16, 2022. Past residencies include New Edition and The Center Program at Hyde Park Arts Center, Chicago; The Wild Residency – Artist in Residence – Venice, Italy; National Performance Network Residency through 516 Arts in Albuquerque; and Flash Powder Projects in Highlands, NC. Her works have been exhibited throughout the country as well as featured in Fraction Magazine, Focal Point, Cooking Light Magazine, and other commercial and university publications. The body of work Rite of Ordinary: Interior Indiana is in the permanent collection of the Kinsey Institute. Her poetry, as part of a collaborative limited-edition book, is included in the RISD Library Special collections. In 2019, Koehler curated Women, Home, and the Revolution of Memory, an exhibition of over seventy works by twenty woman artists, as part of International Women's Month.
