Description
ARTIST STATEMENT
My consistent use of found materials from the common everyday world of the man-made and the natural permeates and defines all my work. My mixed media collages reflect my interest in the physicality of objects, their “thing-ness”: textures, shapes, colors. In the tradition of Picasso’s collages and Duchamp’s found objects, the stuff of my art is likely to be “ropa usada” or other man-made discards or the discards of nature.
I enjoy the uncommon and unexpected beauty found in materials that are used for packaging–and usually thrown away after a single use. These materials may be in their pristine manufactured state or aged by the elements of nature or transformed by my hand. Additionally, old family photographs offer images from the past that are manipulated and presented in a new setting.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Ruth A. Keitz has been involved in art since elementary school. She participated in Saturday art classes at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, PA from fourth grade through high school. (Well-known artists who also participated in the Carnegie Institute program include Philip Pearlstein and Andy Warhol.)
After graduating with a BA in art from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, she attended the University of Texas in Austin. After completing her MFA and PhD, she taught art in the San Antonio ISD. From there she went to the Anchorage (AK) School District as an art administrator and later an administrator in curriculum and instruction. Having also done adjunct teaching at several universities in Alaska, she returned to Texas and has been an adjunct instructor, administrator, senior lecturer, and instructor at various colleges and universities.
© Ruth A. Keitz