Emokhare Paul Anthony
Daily Herald
It’s been quite a journey for Chris Relitz.
The former registered nurse spent 25 years working with psychiatry patients, but since retiring he’s become a full-time painter.
The former Prince Albert resident was back in his home community recently to exhibit his work at the Aurora Arts Show and Sale as a guest artist. He expressed gratitude to his mother for helping him get involved with the show.
“It’s really fun,” Relitz said. “It’s generally been my mom’s art group but she suggested I come out and meet her friends and they invited me to put my art in with their show as well, and it’s really been nice. They’re really kind (and) nice people. I think artists are a pretty accepting (and) loving bunch, and I’m really happy to be a part of it.”
Relitz said the public is inundated with AI right now. He said there are so many cheats and fake ways to imitate good art. He said shows like the Aurora Art Show are a great place to find “grassroots” artwork that’s the result of practice and discipline.
“These are hardcore artists,” Relitz said. “Most of them are well seasoned. This is a good quality group of pieces here.
“I’ve shown in Saskatoon a number of times, and this is one of the best shows I’ve been a part of.”
Relitz is known as the coffee artist because he paints with, well, coffee. His wife is known for creating a strong pot of coffee, and he decided to experiment with it.
“I got hurt at work in 2018 and it gave me some pretty severe vision problems,” Relitz remembered. “I was kind of down for a couple years but then I heard it’s possible to paint with coffee. So, just mucking around, I got some of my wife’s coffee and I boiled it down until it was pretty thick like molasses and that’s what I stuck the paintbrush into and started doodling. My gosh, it looked good. I surprised myself, and I kept at it.”
It’s been two years since Relitz started painting with coffee. He’s created about 200 pieces, and sold them to buyers in Europe and Africa.
“I’m really happy doing this,” he said. “It’s really given me my life back.”
Relitz was injured while working with a psychiatry patient as a registered nurse. He was sucker punched by a patient he didn’t know while working. Relitz required four surgeries to recover. Doctors inserted a number of metal plates in his face help him heal. He had vision problems, an aneurism, and a stroke.
“There was a lot of damage there, and there’s a lot of healing to be done: spiritually, mentally, (and) emotionally,” Relitz said. “The painting, once I got into that, man, I felt good. I was really happy.”
Relitz was not a painter growing up. Instead, his passion was drawing. That changed when he started working with coffee.
“Everything just fell into place,” he said. “My first piece was the barn on my dad’s farm when he was a child. I did it just for Dad because I wanted to see how the coffee would work, and I needed a subject. It was kind of simple this barn and it turned out great and then it just kept going.”
Relitz said he just kept trying to challenge himself and kept on pushing himself to improve. After starting on a barn he began doing faces, some of which he sold at the Aurora Art Show.
Despite his commercial success, Relitz said the most important part of art has been the healing.
“When I worked in the hospital they’re used to be an art program there and I remember seeing my patients go to the art program and they would return two inches taller,” he said. “They looked so, just, rested and healed. I think there’s something (there). When you’re opening up to do art, you’re opening a part of your spirit up and it’s a healthy thing to do. There can be a healing through that whole process.”
–with files from Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
