ARTIST • MOTHER • COMMUNITY ACTIVIST
Raised in VENICE, CA. I’m on a path that I never expected. Starting out as an oil painter that led to filmmaking, creating multi-media installations that include audio, social media, video, public art, and social engagement. My focus is on positive social change, working with concepts that reflect identity and the value of people.
When the pandemic hit, I was taken aback as most of us were. I didn’t know what that meant for my career, all my plans seemed impossible, and I would have to adjust.For the past several years, my work has been in service to the community.
In March of 2020, I was a year into a very personal project that felt instantly irrelevant and meaningless come COVID.Like most artists, I have to work to make money, and what to do with the work I started? So I reinvented what I was working on and made plan B and applied for a grant, fingers crossed. The application process allowed me to organize my intentions behind the work and have a plan in writing.
Here is the short version of the proposal and my intention for the work I’m doing.
OVERALL DESCRIPTION What Does it Mean to Be A Woman (placeholder title) celebrates the ways people who identify as women express their gender identity while challenging harmful gender stereotypes that society reinforces in the media.
The project welcomes contrasting definitions of identity as part of an art exhibition of large paintings, video, and three public educational events. The project invites women to reimagine themselves in today’s challenging times—highlighting the wisdom they naturally embody beyond limited role models.
My hope is to encourage meaningful conversation that empowers women and exposes fuller gender representation—providing a platform for perspectives and experiences which carry the power to shape a different collective future. In video interviews, each woman will share unique and diverse perspectives on the meaning of womanhood, allowing the viewer exposure to new ideas or possibilities about what it means to be a woman. The work honors many points of view ultimately intended to break gender stereotypes and promote unbiased gender expression.
I will know in December 2020.
IMAGE CREDITS: Top of page is Ruth Chase in a Zoom conversation with Be Boggs. Below, Gabi Markham from her instagram.
PARTICIPANTS: Kim Stewart, Nicole Weaver, Adrienne, Carolyn Crist Wright, Be Boggs, Luciano Mota, Beatriz E. Ledesma, Michelle Amador, Mira Clark, Gabi Markham, Tia Tuenge, Terra Nyssa, Aqueila M. Lewis-Ross, and Sarah Clark.
What was once an inadequate space to work has become a dream come true studio-ette. With the need to work from home now, and a gratitude shift, I had to abandon a big sexy studio and turn our one-car garage into my workspace. Ruth Chase
“Women: Independence, Interdependence”
by Ruth Chase
acrylic, thread, cotton yarn on cardboard with video
24 x 48″
I am exploring independence and interdependence of women. Through the use of cardboard, acrylic paint, thread, and cotton yarn, this piece is a meditation on how pain is stored in the female body. With phrases like I am afraid to be vulnerable, I am not lovable, and childhood fear taught me not to trust, were written on each disc, and used to create the breast element in the work. Within the work, there are references to gender dysphoria, menses as independence and interdependence, and the female body as being in service.
THE ART OF COLLABORATION – RUTH CHASE AND CHANTELLE GOLDTHWAITE
Now in Year Three, Belonging manifests as HOME, and elicits perspectives on cultural identity from our less represented populations. Ideas of “home” are being explored through the lens of art salons, our gold country history, our recovering native population, and our recent immigrants. Critical bridge building tools are emerging through creative practices, as we meet. Saturday Morning Question ran from 2017 – 2020.
March 21, 2020
HOME is an initiative of Nevada County Arts Council led by Artist Ruth Chase, generously funded in part by the California Arts Council through its Artists in Communities Program.
This a daily account of artist and mother, Ruth Chase. A post a day about her experiences during the Covid-19 during social distancing. Living in Northern California between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe. Feel free to comment or write you’re own daily experience at the bottom of the page.
Photo by Adrienne
NOV 10
Lately, I’ve been revisiting the mindset I had in my late teens. A time when I was very anti-establishment and obsessed with CRASS, Ayn Rand, and Kate Bush at the same time. Joining every protest and calling myself a citizen of the world. I suppose I’m an adult version of that young girl still as I sift through the feelings I’m having. With age, family, and motherhood that edge has been softened until recently. Is my cynicism from growing up in an environment that let me down, never trust authority, resisting popular movements, never allowing myself to get caught up in the moment that everyone else is having? We are complicated, life is complicated, nothing is black-and-white. I am many things all at once.
NOV 4
KEEP CURIOSITY ALIVE
NOV 3
Hold the vision, trust the process.
NOV 1
The value of a person is not determined by how they vote.
OCT 30
While I voted, I am more of a POWER TO THE PEOPLE kinda gal. I’ll continue to hold my faith in people, not an elected official.
OCT 25
As an artist, I’m more interested in hearing what people really think and feel over telling people what to think and feel.
OCT 17
“I’m learning how to drown out the constant noise that is such an inseparable part of my life. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I only have to follow my heart and concentrate on what I want to say to the world. I run my world.” – Beyoncé
OCT 11
Open Studios starts out rough. Never fun to have the first guest that can’t wait to leave upon entering. Admittedly, my work isn’t for everyone. In the end, Studio Tours was really great. Lots of heartfelt conversation, even a few teary eyes. I couldn’t ask for more.
SEP 14
If JOY were my destination I would be lost as where to find it. This week I’m going to write a daily gratitude focus. I feel stupid even saying those words out loud. DAY 1: I am grateful I can escape the smoke.
FOCUSED DESTINATION
“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.”- Sylvia Plath
SEP 11
2001, I remember this day and exactly where I was. Living in Meadow Vista, CA as a single woman. It was traumatizing, unbelievable. I just want to say that I mark this day as the same feeling, only that it’s been a slow trickle to get here, while 9/11/01 was all at once. May peace rule our hearts, may love guide us in trying times.
Nevada County: Total Cases of COVID 478, 5 deaths, 288 West County, 190 East County
AUG 30
At first, with COVID it was hard to work, but things kept getting harder and more stressful so that now all I can do is work to keep my sanity.
Work in Progress
AUG 28
Life feels like I’m living in a house who with parents divorsed and I am choosing to stay in my room because I don’t want to be part of their arguments. They are asking the wrong question, they insist on arguing about who is right and who is wrong instead of how are we going to get through this together.
AUG 19
I’ve almost gone numb, I’d like to call it surrender, what will be will be. I can’t take the drama anymore and I’m finding myself constantly refocusing. As if that muscle is just getting stronger and stronger. Refocus on family, art practice, and kindness.
AUG 18
Last night we were certain we may need to evacuate, but then once CalFire had all the updates realized it wasn’t as close as we thought. Tonight we will sleep with our phones on, cars packed, ready.
AUG 17
Wild fire season, car packed just in case
JULY 24
Nevada County: Total Cases of COVID 255, 1 death, 116 West County, 139 East County
JULY 20
Nevada County: Total Cases of COVID 228, 1 death, 100 West County, 128 East County
JULY 14
I’m not one. Or the other.
JULY 12
MY MAYBE UNREALISTIC THOUGHTS ABOUT SCHOOL OPENING
I am one of those parents who hope for on-campus school to open with a totally different model than what we’re used to.
I find it interesting that mental health is at the forefront of all things going on right now. And with our teens, it strikes me as being critical to moving forward.
I’m sure it’s unrealistic, but here are my thoughts. And I fully recognize that the schools have a tremendous burden to deal with, and teachers must feel safe. I feel quite lucky to live in a place that is likely thinking out of the box on these things already.
That the schools’ primary function when on campus is to hold a space for our youth to be together for their mental health and stimulate a desire to continue their education for when they are at home. If only a couple of days a week. And for as long as they can hold classes outside. Sitting on the ground, walking, moving. Smaller groups with all the social distancing, mask waring stuff. Taking a more off-grid approach. Zoom classes at home that require video participation unless unable, so kids see each other and keep a connection going. Create our on-campus schools to hold space for our youth if for nothing more than a tiny lifeline of connectedness and less concern about traditional education.
JULY 8
Dear Sadie,
The longer the pandemic – the more feral I become.
JUNE 19
Dear Sadie,
I suspect when it comes to COVID we are 100% being lied to, and we will not really know until a decade passes. However, I still feel the same about waring masks. Not because we always need to, because it puts people at ease even when they are feeling fear. It’s a community statement, not a political statement. Also, because I can’t know anything for sure.
I refuse to live in fear or do something to make someone else fearful. Everyday is a struggle, my only goal is to keep from wanting to give up and being there for Adrienne. Staying positive and staying away from catastrophic thinking. No one knows anything for sure with so many opinions that have proof flying around. I most certainly know one thing for sure, that hope and being positive in the face of chaos is a lifeline.
JUN 8
I was raised feral, in a household with no expectations of me, other than survival. It’s a sharp contrast to my daughters upbringing, hence the painting I did “Innocences as a Privilege”.
Durning this pandemic and now social unrest in the wake of George Floyd, the level of depression our children have is even more exasperated. As a parent it’s a struggle keeping things together. A challenge that I must keep rising to meet.
JUN 3
Let’s not confuse neutrality with the right to pause and take thoughtful action.
JUN 2
News – Gossip?
MAY 31
The end of BELONGING Saturday Morning Question. Ended on a quiet note because of all the unrest in the world. I’m still processing, but will comment on it at some point.
MAY 14
Dear Sadie, I don’t believe there is one truth, I believe there are many truths that coexist at the same time, that is why I have to follow my own truth.
MAY 13
Dear Sadie, It’s my baby’s 15th birthday today. Being in quarantine is not her birthday wish. There has been lots of sadness about not being able to celebrate with her new group of girlfriends. Even though we’re doing well, with lots of talking and listening, it is also a time of challenging mental health for many families with teens.
MAY 10
To be still, to listen To my breath The beat of my heart The sound of my soul My personal path On the collective
MAY 9
Dear Sadie, I’ve started a weekly live program on Instagram with Chantelle called THE ART OF COLLABORATION. @cgoldthwaite and I have decided to work in cardboard for a collaborative piece recorded on IGTV. We will each be doing our own piece that will come together as possibly a diptych. We wanted a way to inspire each other and you to be creative during the shelter in place. it’s being totally made up as we go along.
MAY 7
Dear Mom, I wish I could see you, seeing me being a mother. A wild child and also your caretaker, we were quite an odd match. It was you and I, always. I remember when you were living, grabbing onto you like a child, though in my 20s. I was sad that you would die one day because you were all I had. You taught me humility, compassion, unconditional love, and the importance of loving people, all people. It wasn’t until I became an adult, beyond your departure that I really implemented what I learned from you by the example you lived effortlessly.
MAY 6, 2020
Dear Sadie, I hung out with my girlfriend Heather the other day. We’ve been getting together in her backyard. I bring my cooler over with my own cocktail and appetizer and we set across the table from each other. At one point I was overwhelmed with emotion. I realized how much spacial intimacy I take up. A gentle lean into a whisper, touching her knee as a hand gesture to say, I care, or even a slap of the table with me belting out a big (spittle full) robust laugh was all shut down. I had this thought, was this what it is like to be a proper lady? How exhausting and how boring. Anyhow, it sucked.
MAY 2, 2020
Dear Sadie, That’s it, I’m ready to put on my mask full time and resume my life.
MAY 1, 2020
Dear Sadie, Adrienne’s birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. She is beginning to feel really down about not just her birthday but thinking about all the events that were canceled over summer. A trip to Disneyland with my sister is one such event. It has been really hard lately, I can only imagine what it’s like to be her age and an only child. Sigh
APR 29, 2020
Dear Sadie, Herd mentality makes more sense when you learn about how herd immunity works.
APR 27, 2020
Dear Sadie, Its hard to know what authentic thoughts and feelings I’d have when I’m spoon-fed perspectives by “experts” with a limited insight diet.
APR 25, 2020
Dear Sadie, Our home, the one I hated only months ago is becoming my dream home. We are working on the yard so we have a place to be during the summer, with shade and placed to sit. As of today, Nevada County West has 12 cases of Coronavirus.
APR 22, 2020
Dear Sadie, I had a conversation with a family member the other day, in so much fear. It wasn’t like I disagreed with them. My take away after sifting through our conversation over and over the past few days was that I am always presented with fear, realities that are possible nightmares, but that I have a choice to hold my attention on solutions where there is less fear for me. My mantra yesterday was ….. Problem-solving is where hope lives, where innovation thrives. I just kept thinking about that. CHOICE: It’s an amazing place we live, here on earth. And choosing is one of the great experiences that we get to interact with.
APR 20, 2020
A REBIRTH A PIVOT
“Ruth, you will need to reinvent yourself after having a child. Don’t make plans to go back to where you were before you were pregnant; instead, plan on your rebirth. What you need in your new life will become visible. The more you resist change, the harder it will be.” Retrospective perspective.
I am in yet another rebirth with this quarantine, and I must drop what I thought about myself, my world, my home, my life, and allow a renewal, a pivot, to transform me.
If I remember correctly, the rebirth happened against my will. It took me screaming and clawing. I’m thinking I could learn from my past.
APR 19, 2020
Dear Sadie, I have finally landed in a space I can call my own. I have a studio. For the past seven months, I’ve been struggling with on and off depression. I never realized just how vital my studio was to my mental health until it was taken away. And during this quarantine, it’s been painful not having a place to recalibrate, create, wonder. I’m here now writing to you, listening to the birds outside my window, dog at my feet. I can have my own thoughts here, I can be myself here.
Last week Eliza Tudor of Nevada County Arts Council, Tracy Pepper of Color Me Human, Donn K. Harris of California Arts Council, and I were in #Miami for four days joining the #changenetwork of OF/BY/FORALL.
Ruth Chase “Introvert”
Acrylic on canvas with audio
2018
ECHOES: FROM THERE TO HERE
Alumni Exhibition
San Francisco Art Institute — Diego Rivera Gallery
800 Chestnut Street, San Francisco
Curated by: Timothy Berry and Jeremy Morgan
On View: November 11 – 24, 2019 Opening Reception: Thursday, November 14, 5 – 8 PM
It is with great pleasure and enthusiasm that San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) faculty, Timothy Berry and Jeremy Morgan present ECHOES: From There to Here.
“Women: Independence, Interdependence”
