Brita works in various media and forms including photography, fabric, ink, embroidery, ceramics, watercolor acrylic, video, found, and recycled objects. Inspiration is found in nature, history, literature, languages, music, people, the common and uncommon human experiences, and the many ways individuals can and do express themselves.
Brita’s parents met on a hilltop in Vermont where her maternal and paternal grandparents had retired/ relocated from New York and New Jersey, and built houses next to each other. Brita was raised in Ossining and Peekskill, New York in Westchester County. She has lived, worked, and studied in North Carolina, Washington DC, Yonkers, the Bronx, and Brooklyn and on the vineyards of Brunnenberg castle in the Alto Adige region of Italy. Since 2012 Brita has lived on the beach in Rockaway, Queens, and for the past three years, has split her time between the beach and off-grid in the Catskill Mountains.
Brita studied in Ossining Schools (OHS ’98), Rippowam Cisqua School (’95), Guilford College (’02), Purchase College (SUNY), City College (CUNY), Queens College (CUNY), Borough of Manhattan Community College (CUNY), Lehman College (CUNY) (’19), Pacific College of Health and Science and is now enrolled in the Masters in Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner Masters program at Adelphi University.
Brita has worked as the photo editor for Guilford College’s Guilfordian newspaper and with the Center for Visual Arts, Greensboro, NC. Other roles have included counter girl/ gal Friday at One Station Plaza and Rafiki Food Coop and Café (Peekskill), archival photography research at the National Archives, assistant archivist at the Rockefeller Archives, slide librarian and assistant adjunct professor at City College CUNY, assistant to the president at the fine arts photography auction house Be-hold, at the Godwin-Ternbach Museum at Queens College (CUNY) as educator, designer and photographer, museum manager and interim director. Additionally, Brita has worked as an arts educator for Henry Street Settlement, Abrons Art Center, and with the New York City Department of Cultural After School Adventures Program (CASA) exploring art making with elementary art students in Flushing and Astoria Queens through lessons developed around Museum collections. Brita has photographed people, events, weddings, fine art and antiquarian objects, and music independently and for organizations including the Family Center, Westchester County Senior Citizens Hall of Fame, Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Rockaway Greybeards, and others.
In 2019 Brita became a Registered Nurse and has worked in orthopedics, COVID response and currently works on a cardiac telemetry in South Brooklyn. Brita is currently studying to become an Adult Gerontology Nurse Practitioner exploring creative and healthy ways to age, with a research focus on innovative, integrative, complementary, and holistic therapies for persons living with Alzheimer’s dementia.
In addition to participating in the creative and nursing arts, Brita enjoys being in nature, hiking, cycling, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, sailing, surfing, paddling, listening to music, gardening, reading, and growing.
