RUTH CHASE
AUGUST 13 - OCTOBER 30
Ruth Chase
about RUTH CHASE
Artist statement:
When the world gets weird, I retreat to my studio, spend time in nature and work it out with paint. I have become obsessed with light, science and consciousness, pulling on the thread and following it wherever it takes me. I spend a lot of time with my feet in the dirt and my face toward the sun. Gosh, light is so damn mysterious. No wonder our ancestors paid such close attention to it. I’ve been returning to old photographs, some of which I have lived with for decades. Maybe I’m looking for traces of what they knew as an anchor in such strange times. At one point, a shape revealed itself to me as a Light Body. You’ll see it repeated throughout the work as a simple outline, present as a companion and witness. Sometimes I experience it as ancestral, sometimes angelic. Whatever it is, it reminds me that we are in a relationship with forms of light that are not always visible. So I give you these paintings, Light Keepers and video to experience through your own perception. A record of what I’ve been noticing. A collection of meditations disguised as art.
artist bio:
Ruth Chase is a multimedia artist, curator and arts leader based in Tennessee. Through painting, video and sculptural objects, she explores light and the visible and invisible forces that remain unbroken. Drawing from nature, dreams, research and vintage photographs, her work moves between imagination and physics, where memory, wonder and questions of perception intersect. A recurring form she calls the Light Body appears throughout her practice as a symbolic companion evoking unseen presence and guidance. Alongside her studio practice, Chase has developed large-scale public engagement projects that integrate storytelling, film and community participation into her work. Selected exhibitions include the Diego Rivera Gallery at the San Francisco Art Institute, the Crocker Kingsley Exhibition, the Museum of Northern California Art (MONCA), Modfellows Art Gallery and Venice Arts. Her film Belonging screened at the Nevada City Film Festival and the Wild & Scenic Film Festival. Chase received three consecutive Artist Activating Communities grants from Nevada County Arts, funded by the California Arts Council. She was awarded a residency at the Millay Colony for the Arts in New York, has taught at the Crocker Art Museum and received a grant from the Carl Jacobs Foundation as well as a Certificate of Appreciation from the City of Los Angeles for Art in Action. Chase received her BFA from the former San Francisco Art Institute. She currently serves as Regional Arts Director at Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center in Tennessee and curates exhibitions for both Monthaven and Huswej in California.Chase received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She currently serves as Regional Arts Director at Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center in Tennessee and curates exhibitions for both Monthaven and Huswej in California.
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