May Your Life Be Your Masterpiece
I AM HERE is an arts initiative for Nevada County Arts Council with lead artist Ruth Chase.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION
I just completed this portrait painting of a good friend of mine, titled Giving. I am now taking clients for custom portrait paintings. Let me know if you’re interested in pricing and details.
Giving may refer to the transfer of something without the expectation of receiving something in return, the habit of giving freely or the giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver. A quality that many women identify with, giving.
EXAMPLES OF PRICES
30 x 30” $2250
40 x 40” $4000
If you’re interested in a consultation, please give me the best way to contact you below.
“Giving”
by Ruth Chase
A portrait of Joanne Neft
30 x 30”
2018
CUSTOM PORTRAITS BY RUTH CHASE FLYER
CONTACT RUTH
530.409.2330
One of my first portraits from back in the day.
When I started painting I would follow a voice that would come forth from a spirit on other side asking me to paint them. I had no idea what I was doing, I would just paint, in time I understood that I could use channeling from non physical energy to guide my work. I remember clearly that this spirit was eager to be seen and released. While I still use this method in some of my work, I am so much more aware of what is happening and far more particular of who I channel.
“White Face”
oil on canvas
6 x 4′
1990
by Ruth Chase
Ocampo Collection
Every Saturday morning I ask a question on Facebook about women and our sense of belonging. Please join me as we explore this topic, men we need you too.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON FACEBOOK
I AM HERE questions are meant to engage the community in a conversation about women and to foster a community connection.
I AM HERE is an initiative of Nevada County Art Council led by Artist Ruth Chase, generously funded in part by California Arts Council through its Artists in Communities Program.
What does it mean to be a woman, a question I have never explored until this very moment.
From an early age I noticed that being a “girl” put me in a place of vulnerability and I was very aware that physical danger was awaiting me if I wasn’t careful. So as a young adult “woman” I would make sure that my clothes and persona were tough enough to scare away predators.
Now I look back and see that it wasn’t until bearing a child, at the age of 40, that I began to connect with my womanhood. I was getting in touch with my body and its functions specific to having a child and becoming awakened to the physical characteristics that make me a WOMAN. I loved being pregnant, I loved my body and being able to hold another universe within.
I have spent a lot of time rejecting the expectations put on me by the outside world of what a woman is or should be, or should not be. I have never been sure of how I fit into the expectations of the world around me. I also, at times, did not want to own the power and blessings that come with femininity. On the inside I felt like I hadn’t decided if I wanted to be feminine and on the outside I knew being a tomboy or punk sent a message of leave me alone, I’m not open for this “girl” business. Sometimes I wonder if I would have chosen to be a woman in this lifetime if I were given a choice before I was born. I suppose I have even been pissed off about being a woman, now that I think about it. So far, the most amazing thing about being a woman has been birthing my daughter, who by the way is VERY girly and VERY feminine. I’m having an ‘aha!’ moment writing this. I may even need a good cry.
With so much love to each and every women’s journey,
Ruth Chase
If you want to know more about I AM HERE, please click here. Thank you to Sara Clark for editing help OXOXOXO
Women’s Equality Day celebrates the anniversary of the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the United States’ Constitution on August 26, 1920. The amendment granted women the right to vote for the first time and was a result of the women’s suffrage movement in the USA.
BELONGING is about our vulnerable mountain home and the people who tend it, love it and depend on it. Documented by its filmmaker Ruth Chase, with cinematographer Radu Sava, the film features Rick Berry, Jeff Brown, Jonathan Collier, Shelly Covert, Philip Oyung, Nancy Tiken Lopez, Elisa Parker, Aimee Retzler, Mike Stewart and Rob Thompson. BELONGING is an initiative of Nevada County Art Council, led by Artist Ruth Chase and generously funded in part by California Arts Council through its Artists in Communities Program.
Friday, September 7 @ 4:25pm
Sunday, September 9 @ 1:25pm
Thursday, September 13 @ 7:25pm
All showings @ Onyx Theatre, 21+
plus Filmmaker Q&A
Documented by its filmmaker Ruth Chase, with cinematographer Radu Sava, the film features Rick Berry, Jeff Brown, Jonathan Collier, Shelly Covert, Philip Oyung, Nancy Tiken Lopez, Elisa Parker, Aimee Retzler, Mike Stewart and Rob Thompson. BELONGING is an initiative of Nevada County Art Council, led by Artist Ruth Chase and generously funded in part by California Arts Council through its Artists in Communities Program.
I am so out of my mind excited to say that I will have the most challenging paintings I have ever made exhibiting in the Museum of Northern California Art. I am so proud to be representing VENICE in this exhibition about the value of street art to our communities.
MUSEUM OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ART
900 ESPLANADE
CHICO, CA, 95926 (MAP)
Beyond the Frame Panel Discussion | August 26
INVITATION
Beyond the Frame Exhibition
July 19 – September 2, 2018
INVITATION
SEE and hear more about Leonard
“Never Forget Where You Come From, Always Remember Where You’re Going” by Ruth Chase will be exhibiting this month at part of Beyond the Frame. Street art often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although it can also express a political practice, and serves as just one tool in an array of resistance techniques.
Like some forms of street art, murals are often collaborative and collective art pieces, functioning to empower social bonding, an assertion of a community’s presence in a certain space, and articulate a community’s stance on local and global topics such as historical events and civil rights. Some murals have also been created in defiance to the law (like street art), as others have been commissioned by businesses or other patrons. It can be argued that public art of both categories can add aesthetic improvement to the daily lives of residents, and visitors to the community.
By virtue of being visually provocative or beautiful, public artworks may be easier magnets for community support and thereby effective political tools. For the communities it exists in, public art also provides access to beauty, creative work, and cultural pride.
A pop up installation where Ruth gave hugs, postcards, and took photos.
This backdrop was painted by Ruth and photos were taken to share the value individuals have in our communities. The public was encouraged to hang their photo at home where it can be seen as a reminder of their importance.
Please email Ruth your I BELONG HERE images from wherever you are RuthChaseFineArt@ymail.com
Very appreciative of The Union and Liz Kellar for featuring this article. Liz actually came to my studio and we sat down to talk, imagine that, a real conversation.
Photos taken by Dee Anne Dinelli
BELONGING Year 2 – I AM HERE LAUNCHES
“We worked hard to produce a grant application which expanded upon the first year of our program, Belonging,” said Eliza Tudor, executive director at Nevada County Arts Council, said. “This particular program … demands that the artist expose his or her community not only to art, but art in connection with ideas that shine a light on both our individuality and our sense of togetherness — our ‘belonging.'”
During the year-long project, Chase will act as lead artist to elicit perspectives through the use of social media, public art-making salons, a short film, and a culminating interactive public installation.
As with her earlier projects, Chase will use social media as part of the process, saying it is a good way to reach a broader community to participate in the conversation.
She stressed that I AM HERE is very much meant to be a conversation, and not necessarily one that comes up with any answers. And as part of that, she is striving to make the dialogue as broad-based and wide-ranging as possible by including a wide spectrum of participants.
“It’s a conversation we often don’t get to have anymore,” Chase said. “We usually only do with those who are like us.”
The participants include Cassie Angle, Elma Eden Baker; girls from The Friendship Club; Virginia Rose Covert from the Nisenan tribe; Isis Indriya; and Kayle Martin.
“The women and girls involved will come up with the specifics,” she said. “I want it to be their great idea, not mine. I hope the stories and the insights will touch different kinds of women in different ways”
