Nita K. Sunderland

I attended Bradley University School of Fine Art from 1964 to 1967 and was fortunate to have Nita Sunderland as an instructor in Sculpture and Life Drawing. I often helped her in the sculpture studio, sweeping up the limestone and marble dust and carrying supplies.

She was unlike any other woman I had ever met and her positive influence on me has lasted my entire life.

She could be gruff, but never mean. She could be strong, but not overbearing. She could be...

Nita was my aunt, and we were close throughout my life, though we lived some distance away for most of it. For my brother and I as young boys from a small farm town, she was our window on a wider world. When I was 9, she went on sabbatical to Florence, Italy to study with master marble carvers. My folks showed me where that was on the globe in our house, and I read about Florence’s history to try to understand what her time there was all about. She took me through MOMA in NYC when I was in...

Nita was my teacher, mentor, role model, and hero for reasons too many to elaborate on an online forum. Condolences to her family and friends. She was a great one.