Rita Spina was born and raised in Manhattan, New York. She has always loved art and as a child read books about art and attended classes at nearby Parsons School of Design.

Long Island was her home for almost 40 years, where her four children were born and raised. During those years, she received her Ph.D. in School and Community Psychology, was chief psychologist for a Long Island school system, had a private clinical practice, and taught and served as Director of the Psychological Evaluation and Research Center at her alma mater, Hofstra University.

Rita has an affinity for water and returns to water to reflect, calm and refresh herself. She spent five of her years in Long Island living on a boat, years she remembers fondly and vividly.

She moved to Chatham County, North Carolina, in 1989, where she revived her interest in art. Her art work has been represented in national juried shows, galleries and private collections, and she is a founding artist of the Chatham Studio Tour, now in its twelfth year.

Rita divides her very active life between her art and volunteer work. She serves various projects in the field of community-based public health with the Chatham County Health Department and has been a participant in the University of North Carolina Senior Leadership Enhancement Initiative at the Institute on Aging.

Recently she became involved in Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities (CCEC), an organization which “seeks to empower citizens to enhance Chatham’s future.”