Ruth Gilbert

After receiving her B.A. in Art Education from RISD in 1958, Ruth worked for several years as an Art Teacher in Connecticut and New York. Once in New York, Ruth continued her own art making, taking advanced painting classes in Westchester, Printmaking at Purchase College, and Alternative Photography at Penland in the summer.

The next few years, the 60’s and 70’s, brought major changes to the New York art world and beyond, and Ruth was part of both of these “Happenings”: the first being the emergence of Soho as a major art center. Strong galleries exhibited new work from artists each month: The Castelli Gallery, Sonnabend, Paula Copper, Sperone Westwater, etc. Ruth was there to see all that.

Second, with friends actively involved in the Fluxus movement, Ruth saw Fluxus objects, read their writing, and was fortunate to see the “Happenings” of Allan Kaprow and Robert Rauschenberg.

For Ruth, these events are still major influences in her own work.

Looking to do more of her own work in a comfortable setting, Ruth next set up a darkroom in her home. It was there that she began working in Alternative Photography processes—Hand-Colored Dye Transfer, Kwik Print, and Kallitype (Sun Prints). She began exhibiting her work—Hudson River Museum, Bronx Museum,?Pindar Gallery in Soho—a whole new wall installation was exhibited there.

Eventually, the work and the pieces became so large that it was time to move onto a separate studio. In 1989, Ruth moved to Yoho Studios in Yonkers and she has been there ever since—painting, making sculptures and large installations, and exhibiting.

Dear Curatorial Committee:

I am applying to be included in the Sackler Center for Feminist Art. My focus in recent years has been sculpture, and I’d like my work available for curators who are looking for large scale projects, such as the recently seen “Sugar Baby”.

My pieces are all women, mostly inspired by archaeological finds. I like the simplicity and directness of early art.

I am seventy-eight years old now, and am still working, exhibiting, and challenging myself to explore new ideas; ever curious to see how far I can go.