1938: Born Karin Martin on 22 June 1938 in Rabenstein, near Chemnitz.
1953: Escaped from East Germany to West Germany.
1959: A-levels in Bochum.
1959-1965: Studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. In 1960, she was accepted into K.O. Götz’s class.
1964: Switched from informal to representational painting style and passed state examination in art education.
1965: Married Karl Otto Götz.
1966: Group exhibition EXTRA at the Municipal Museum in Wiesbaden.
1969-1975: Lecturer and later senior lecturer at the Düsseldorf Art Academy.
1972: Publication of the book ‘Problems of Image Aesthetics. An Introduction to Visual Thinking’ with Karl Otto Götz.
1975-2007: Professor of painting at the Düsseldorf Art Academy.
1977: Founding of the artist group AXIOM.
1980: Retrospective at the Märkisches Museum in Witten.
1988: Equal opportunities officer at the Düsseldorf Art Academy.
1994: Exhibition at the Chemnitz Municipal Art Collections.
1997: Founded the K.O. Götz and Rissa Foundation.
2004: Participated in the group exhibition ‘Homage to K.O. Götz’ at the Museum Küppersmühle, Duisburg.
2007: Emeritus professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy.
2009: Member of the Art Academy Advisory Board of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Awarded the Order of Merit of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. Exhibition at the Roentgen Museum and the Municipal Gallery of the City of Neuwied together with K.O. Götz.
2012: Honorary member of the Düsseldorf Art Academy.
2018: Retrospective at the Akademie Galerie, Düsseldorf. Retrospective at the Kunstsammlungen, Chemnitz
The artist lives and works in Wolfenacker-Niederbreitbach, Germany.
