Ruth Meijer
As the gallery director, I enjoy the opportunity to be surrounded by artwork that I admire. I’ve been immersed in art and design most of my life, first weaving fabric for interior furnishings on commission then styling woven and printed material under the label Soliloquy textiles. Click here for a pdf summary of my professional background and training in the fine arts.
My artwork explores the rhythms of life and the transient moments that catch my attention. Each time I step outside, I’m aware of movement all around me: birds flying across the sky, a breeze ruffling through some leaves, water washing over the sand. Through a mix of observation and imagination, I identify the shapes that define the patterns that describe these movements.
I’m attracted to the dynamics of patterns and how making a simple mark or a series of marks on a flat surface can suggest motion and atmosphere. This is the magic of painting and drawing! My favorite mediums are oil paint and charcoal, which I apply in layers and then enhance and selectively remove to convey volume, texture and luminescence.
I like to focus on the essence of an image, which naturally expands outward from a starting point to follow an axis or the basic geometry of a circle. Most often, the center of a composition in my artwork is outside its perimeter and implied. I like the tension that occurs by juxtaposing positive and negative shapes and the ambiguity that results from seeing only one part of a scene. The suggestion of what else is there or could happen creates an ethereal sensibility and the desired effect of being suspended in a moment of time.
Self-Portrait with Hand, oil on linen, 11”x16”
