Apr 14 - Jun 14 | Reception Apr 21

McKelvey Charitable Fund Gallery @ 204 S. Austin

Contrast as the Muse, showcasing the paintings of artist Lynne Ruf, will be featured at Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA), April 14–June 4, in the McKelvey Charitable Fund Gallery located in the upper level.

Describing herself as a visual author, Ruf sees each painting as a vignette/novelette using repeated but very different iconography, hoping to convey to viewers a commonality and a shared past in the work, regardless of their own personal journey.

“Ruf combines pattern and form in a way that reminds me of the Symbolists and French Realists,” said Elena Rodriguez, exhibitions curator for Rockport Center for the Arts. “The iconography in her work is simultaneously personal and archetypal; she creates her own language and folklore in the repeated imagery in her paintings.”

The general public will have the opportunity to meet Ruf as she discusses her work and unique process in a gallery talk on Friday, April 21, at 12:30 p.m. followed by a members-only reception from 5–7 p.m. the same day. Both events will be held in the McKelvey Gallery.

A Rockport resident now for decades, the Kansas-born Ruf has many female artists in her family, including her paternal grandmother, who studied art in Kentucky before traveling by wagon to Kansas where her new farmhouse was full of paintings depicting Greek and Roman history, as well as her mother, who studied at Kansas Univesity and made a living drawing highly detailed department store fashion ads in the 1930s. 

Ruf began her own formal training at age 7 with Wilma Wethington's School of Art, a no-nonsense instructor who taught Ruf the basics that would earn her praise from future educators. She studied Art and Architecture at Kansas State University, later worked on a painting major through the Kansas City Art Institute and Wichita State University, and received a B.A. in Art from Texas A&M - Corpus Christi.

Her paintings have been exhibited in Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas over the years, including Estelle Stair Gallery, St. Charles Art Gallery, and Wind Way Gallery, and most recently The Gallery at Anita Diebel's Studio and Coast Modern, all located in Rockport.

Creating this body of work challenged Ruf’s understanding of her artistic process and personal mythology. Initially, the title, Contrast as the Muse, referred to the diversity in color palette and materials, as well as the application technique used. In every painting, Ruf uses acrylic paint, paper collage, and every kind of mark maker available, applying glazes and scrubbing them into the painting and washing them down giving them a fabric-like quality, creating a visual and textural contrast from the effect of this layered technique against a more solid application of paint.

“As I began to create the full body of work, the meaning of Contrast changed for me,” said Ruf. “I was worried the various repeated imagery and compositions in my work were all too different to form a cohesive show. I was surprised to learn that while each painting is unique, they were all actually connected through their meaning.”

Ruf has often painted a trio of women in turbans, never really knowing if they felt more biblical or tribal, but there were always three and always abstracted. In her piece titled The Gathering, she added a fourth figure, seated in front of the three. Contemplating the finished painting, Ruf realized she was the seated woman and the three others were the younger generation or her family in disguise, a statement on strong matriarchal inheritance.

“Other frequent motifs in my work are trees and people. I feel a strong connection to the landscapes where I’ve lived-whether it’s Rockport’s bent oaks or Kansas’ farmland. I chose specific places to be my home, my soulmates, and that connects me to a greater human story. Both the women and the trees in my paintings are explorations of my ancestry, both familial and universal, connected by a shallow root system of history and humanity.

About the Artist

I come from a family tree full of women artists. My paternal grandmother studied art in Kentucky before hopping in a wagon to Kansas to become a farm wife.  She gathered eggs and cooked meals for harvest-workers in a house was full of paintings about Greek history and Roman baths. My mother was also an artist. She studied at Kansas University and made a living drawing highly detailed department store fashion ads in 1930s. Thus in my life, there was always Art, and it was considered a desirable pursuit.

My own training started at Wilma Wethington's School of Art at age seven. Wilma was no nonsense instructor and taught me the basics that would earn me praise from future educators. I studied Art and Architecture at Kansas State University, and later worked on a painting major through the Kansas City Art Institute. Eventually a move back to Wichita brought me to WSU. The last move brought me to Texas where I received a B.A. in Art from Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

My paintings have been exhibited in Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas. Locally I have shown my paintings at Estelle Stair Gallery, St. Charles Gallery, and WindWay Gallery. More recently my work has been shown through The Gallery at Anita Diebel's Studio and Coast Modern. 

Artist Statement

Creating this body of work challenged my understanding of my artistic process and personal mythology. Initially the title - Contrast As The Muse – referred to the diversity my color palette, materials, and application technique. In every painting, I use acrylic paint, paper collage, and every kind of mark maker available. I apply glazes and scrub them into the painting and wash them down giving them a fabric like quality. The contrast comes from the effect of this layered technique against a more solid application of paint. This is really apparent in landscapes where the sky meets the trees.

But as I began to create the full body of work, the meaning of Contrast changed for me. I was worried the various repeated imagery and compositions in my work were all too different to form a cohesive show. I was surprised to learn that while each painting is unique, they were all actually connected through their meaning.

I have often painted a trio of women in turbans. I never knew if they felt more biblical or tribal, but there were always three and always abstracted. In The Gathering, I added a fourth figure, seated in front of the three. Contemplating the finished painting, I realized the seated women is me, and the three women were the younger generation (my family in disguise). The painting speaks to strong matriarchal inheritance. Other frequent motifs in my work are trees and people. I feel a strong connection to the landscapes where I’ve lived-whether it’s Rockport’s bent oaks or Kansas’ farmland. I chose specific places to be my home, my soulmates, and that connects me to a greater human story. Both the women and the trees in my paintings are explorations of my ancestry, both familial and universal, connected by a shallow root system of history and humanity.

I see myself as a visual author, each painting a vignette/novelette using repeated but very different iconography. I hope the viewer recognizes a commonality, a shared past in the work, regardless of their own personal journey.