I didn’t know I was raising an artist when my youngest was a child. Her show, The Weight, opens at the Southern Vermont Arts Center with a reception this Friday, July 22, 2022 from 5-7 and will be on view until September 11, 2022.
On display will be Girl’sDress, which Ruth describes is an “effort to visualize the impending weight of womanhood. [The sculpture] is going to take over a small gallery room at SVAC that has 5 entrances and exits, so as to be basically unavoidable…which feels like a fitting extension of the metaphor.”
SlipCover, a work that examines where home ends and the body begins, will also be on display, along with several other pieces and installations that are both funny and serious, often at the same time.
Ruth’s work for this show is fantastic: the debut of an artist with a vision to share. As proud as I am of the work, I’m even more moved by the tenacity required to achieve it. Ruth has sustained focus and demonstrated dedication for months to bring ideas she’s had for years into being. She recently acknowledged that my work as a writer showed her that making art is a valuable use of time and talent. This is gratifying, but I have no delusions: she’s done the hard work here.
The Weight is part of a 4-woman exhibit titled Dwell: Home is Where the Art Is, a show that explores ideas about domesticity and interior spaces in a building that was once a large, private home, and whose history has inspired all four artists. The other three artists are photographer and bookmaker Maxine Henryson, painter Alejandra Seeber, and mixed media artist Suzanne Wright. Dwell: Home is Where the Art Is will be on display from July 23 – September 11, 2022.
More information at Southern Vermont Art Center.
Marvelous to see what Ruth is doing!! Can’t wait to see the show! I remember her creativity as a child.
Bravo Ruth Shafer. Both her parents are exceptional people so not surprised she is one too.
Not in Vermont at the moment. If I were, I’d love to go see it. You must be a proud Mama!
I perused Ruth’s website, amazing and stunning work. Whimsical, provocative, sensuous, well-orchestrated. I may have to bequeath her my fabric when i can no longer see what I am doing (not soon, though). I love her spirit!!!
It is obvious, knowing both you and Tim, that art is very valued by both of you and is very present in your home. It is going to be a great show.
Genius, Ruth! The upholstered chair/woman not only shows how hard it is to pry ourselves away from the endless tasks that surround us in the home, but how invisible that work and the one who does it can be to others unless they’ve done it themselves.