ARTIST STATEMENT
My mixed media paintings / collages reflect my interest in the physicality of objects, their “thingness:” textures, shapes, colors. Regardless of the series, message, or symbolism, my work includes a variety of traditional media and found objects. 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.
Other art history also influences my art: Renaissance linear perspective and the Renaissance concept of the picture plane as a window to the world with its perceived depth and space; and Baroque compositions that spill towards us from the picture plane.
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” graduates of the Carnegie Institute program include Philip Pearlstein and Andy Warhol.)
However, it was her father who ran a part-time business painting lines for parking lots, crosswalks, and directional traffic arrows who claimed to have taught her how to paint while working for him. Perhaps there is more truth than fiction here considering the linear structure of many of her works and the frequent inclusion of night skies.
After graduating with a BA in art from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, she went to the University of Texas at Austin where she completed her MFA in art education with a minor in studio art and a PhD in curriculum and instruction with a minor in studio art. She was a student of Kelly Fearing and Michael Frary. During that time she was a Teaching Assistant in both art and curriculum and instruction and an Assistant Instructor in art. She then 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.
She lives and works in Los Fresnos in the Rio Grande Valley of far South Texas.
© Ruth Keitz