An exhibit of mural-sized paintings and drawings by artist Joanne Beaule Ruggles, titled “Hanging by a Thread: Mother Earth in Peril,” will be the first exhibit of the fall semester at the Allan Hancock College Ann Foxworthy Gallery and will be on display through the end of September.
The works came out of Ruggles’ experience during January 2010 and 2011 as artist-in-residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida where she began work on the series of acrylics and charcoal on canvas. She developed the idea of creatively portraying the relationship and responsibility of humans to the planet. The series reflects life scenes of maternal protection, grief, guilt, retribution, and sacrifice.
Ruggles earned her bachelor of fine arts and master of fine arts degrees from Ohio State University and taught at Ohio State, Allan Hancock College, and Cuesta College before to joining the art department at Cal Poly in SLO, where in 2004 she received the university’s top research award for her 29-piece series titled “A Stone of Hope.” That series dealt with the New York City-born Ruggles’ examination of the nation’s collective response to the 9/11 attacks on the United States and her subsequent personal response to a diagnosis of breast cancer not long afterward.
Ruggles is represented in the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies program and her paintings have been loaned to embassies in Luanda, Angola and Freetown, Sierra Leone. She has exhibited widely both in the United States and overseas, with international exhibits in England, Korea, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Canada, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Yugoslavia, Thailand, Singapore, Mexico, and more.
The public is invited to meet the artist at a closing lecture and reception in the gallery from 10:15 to 12:15 on Sept. 28. For more information, call 922-6966, Ext. 3252.
This article appears in Aug 25 – Sep 1, 2011.
