About Colloquia

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Co-Founder, Colloquia Art

Andrew Ritcheson is an American-British artist, collector, and psychologist whose work spans painting, photography, and mixed media. He is the co-founder and managing director of Colloquia Art, a gallery in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley devoted to restoring intimacy, reflection, and presence to the way we encounter art.

He was raised in a large, raucous family of boys where curiosity, culture, and spirited conversation were central to daily life—and where a deep love of the arts was nurtured by both parents. That foundation was profoundly shaped by a year spent traveling overland from London to Egypt in a Volkswagen Vanagon, exploring the sites of classical antiquity as a family. That journey sparked a lifelong interest in the built world, historical memory, and the many ways that beauty is expressed.

For more than thirty years, Andrew has worked at the intersection of creative practice, material culture, and psychological inquiry—as a practicing artist, a collector of ancient art and antiquities, and a student of how meaning is made. He holds a DPhil in Psychology from the University of Oxford and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). His academic and professional work has explored how we make sense of experience and the role of visual imagination in shaping emotional states—threads that continue to inform both his studio practice and curatorial approach.

In a time defined by speed and digital saturation, Andrew’s philosophy is grounded in slowness, touch, and close looking. He believes the most powerful art is not transactional but relational: it does not shout; it lingers. At Colloquia, he curates exhibitions and conversations that prioritize resonance over novelty, and craft over noise.

Colloquia is not simply a gallery—it is a space to think with the hands, to engage the senses, and to honor what is made, remembered, and felt. With a deep commitment to removing barriers to the arts, Andrew works to welcome both seasoned collectors and first-time visitors—those fluent in the language of art, and those just beginning to find their voice within it.