Tag: Ruth Chase

WHAT I KNOW ABOUT SECLUSION

by Ruth Chase

 

  1. It takes 3-5 days, or more to embrace it
  2. You may feel lost, not knowing what to do
  3. You will feel things you did realize you felt
  4. Random memories will begin to surface
  5. Your imagination will wonder
  6. Social media will be your companion, maybe too much
  7. You will amaze yourself by what you create
  8. Then you may wonder why you were amazed
  9. You will know yourself better
  10. You will long for real people
  11. You may comfort eat and drink
  12. You will emerge with a new outlook

My life as an artist in the studio, a 35 year practice and counting.

Art + Activism Online Classes

by Ruth Chase

BIOGRAPHICAL PORTRAITURE
Creating narrative for art-making that is inspired through an interview.

Biographical Portraiture (BP) is the use of personal or collective biography to create an artwork. It can be literal or symbolic. Interviewing the subject is a tool used to gather content to depict a story, theme, commentary, or perspective. Research can be an alternative tool for gathering information other than an interview. While BP is often used to portray a single person, it can also illustrate themes and topics that reflect social issues. This class includes a followup phone call with Ruth.

BP is for artists working in any medium, looking for a new and inspiring way to create portraiture that incorporates storytelling. This class will provide useful tools that will push the traditional portrait and offer an exciting way of working that can be used for a single picture or for engaging the public on a broader scope. Best suited for artists who have a medium they’re already familiar with. The workshop that follows BP is Making Art in Service to Community, a workshop that dives deeper into the practices of working with others to create commentary.

BP is a two-part class. In this first class, we cover the basics of BP by practicing with someone you know first. In the second class, Making Art In Service To Community, we cover a more in-depth understanding of BP and working with the public.

Key skills you will learn

  • What is BP
  • The difference between Subject and Content
  • Working with real people in collaboration
  • How to conduct an interview that will provide content for your work
  • Using symbolism for storytelling

WHERE: Online at your convenience
WHEN: Wednesday, April 8, 11 AM followup ZOOM meeting optional
COST: BY DONATION ONLY

FACEBOOK PAGE

REGISTER for Online Class – Biographical Portraiture

This class includes a series of five videos that contain four lessons. Four PDF printouts, and a followup phone appointment with Ruth. PLEASE pay only what you can. Upon purchasing you will receive an email from Ruth with the link and password to begin.

$5.00

“Biographical Portraiture online class was an enriching experience for me as an artist and organizer, and also left me with excellent questions to explore in my own work. I found it added impeccable depth to the conversation of how to engage with telling other’s stories in a respectful, collaborative, and meaningful way. Ruth teaches with passion, expertise, inquiry, and honesty, all these traits combine fora compelling and invigorating experience any artist wanting to expand their work will appreciate.”

Mira Clark
Artist | Visibility Through Art Coordinator for CHIRP
existinspired.com

 

CREATING POSITIVE SOCIAL CHANGE PROJECTS

How do you take your current creative practice as a painter, photographer, sculptor, and turn it into something that can create positive social change? Through a series of inquiries, you will tap into a deeper sense of who you are and the resources you already have. In this two-hour interactive workshop, you will unravel the missing link between your medium and it becoming a community project. We will also review funding resources.
Let’s explore the missing pieces and how to turn your work into a community bridge-building project that can attract funding.

WHERE: ZOOM Meeting
WHEN: Thursday, April 16, 11 AM
COST: Free or by donation

FACEBOOK PAGE

REGISTER FOR Creating Positive Social Change Projects

Any donation is appreciated. I will email you instructions for the class within 24 hours.

$5.00

“I attended Ruth’s workshop at the Business of Art. If only this class were longer, I could have spent all day working with Ruth”

Carol Turner
Artist | Community Activist

MORE CLASSES ON THE WAY

HOME – OF/BY/FORALL and #Miami

by Ruth Chase

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.

Miami of by for all ruth chase
Ruth, Tracy, Donn
Continue reading “HOME – OF/BY/FORALL and #Miami”

I AM HERe Installation

by Ruth Chase Leave a comment

Women in a Rural County

Women are an essential part of any community, yet their sense of belonging is often tied into gender roles, not always satisfying their sense of belonging. Mother, sister, partner, we all have women in our lives. I AM HERe is intended to mirror the voices of how men and women view women’s unique sense of belonging against the backdrop of our rural community. Lead artist Ruth Chase has sought to examine her own sense of belonging over the course of a year by asking questions through social media and taking her personal journey alongside the community. Now, the public is invited to share their own stories about themselves or the women in their lives by participating in the public art installation.

I AM HERE by Ruth Chase
IMG_E4209

Continue reading “I AM HERe Installation”

NEW WORK

by Ruth Chase

Artist Statement Ruth Chase

I struggle with the notion of what a woman is. My work explores what it means to be a woman and the struggle to understand all that entails. I create large intimate paintings from images that women have submitted and from selfies that my daughter has taken. I also create public art installations and video from public engagement projects.

Motherhood opened a world within me that is both painful and empowering. Causing me to reevaluate the roles I have resisted and submitted to, and how I see myself as a woman.

Using my daughters’ selfies, I am able to capture the complexity of the mother/daughter relationship. Experiencing my daughter’s adolescence has awoken memories, causing a deep reflection on how our childhood shapes us as women, and the role vulnerability plays in our development.

Continue reading “NEW WORK”

Documentary ‘Belonging’ featured at Wild & Scenic Film Festival

by Ruth Chase

Laura Peterson                                                
Special to The Union
January 15, 2019

Ruth Chase by Lori Lachman 2018

In her film, “Belonging” local artist and director, Ruth Chase documents the stories of people living in Nevada County, including Shelly Covert, spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria, Nisenan Tribe.

The film is an initiative of Nevada County Art Council and funded in part by California Arts Council through its Artists in Communities Program. Chase and Covert are scheduled to show the film during this week’s 17th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival comes to Nevada City and Grass Valley.

The pair are scheduled to participate in activities such as opening reception, art shows, fireside chats, coffee talks, workshops and film panels throughout the five-day environmental and adventure film festival that attracts filmmakers, change-makers, and activists from around the globe.

The two sat down and answered a few questions. Chase had this to say:

What inspired you to make the film, “Belonging?”

“Belonging” is about how people find a sense of belonging through the land, the earth, and the environment. I was initially interested in examining the unique connection people have with the land they were born on and if that connection changes when residing in a place other than their birthplace.

 

Continue reading “Documentary ‘Belonging’ featured at Wild & Scenic Film Festival”

Channeling My Work

by Ruth Chase

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 the other side asking me to see them. I had no idea what I was doing, I would just paint, in time I understood that I could use channeling from nonphysical energy to guide my work. I remember distinctly 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 and what I channel.

“White Face”
oil on canvas
6 x 4′
1990
by Ruth Chase
Ocampo Collection

White_Face_Oil_on_Canvas_6_x4_1990 by Ruth Chase
“White Face”, oil on canvas, 48 x 72”, 1990

Early Work >

 

What Does It Mean To Be A Woman

by Ruth Chase Leave a comment

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.

10 weeks pregnant Ruth Chase
24 weeks pregnant Ruth Chase
38 weeks pregnant Ruth Chase

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 to be a tomboy or punk sent a message to 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 also 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.

Continue reading “What Does It Mean To Be A Woman”