Ruth Segaloff, a member of Unbound Visual Arts, graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, As a VISTA volunteer, she was stationed for a year on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation in Idaho. In 1969, she earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Rutgers University and moved to Boston. In 2008, after a forty year career in social work, she retired to become a full time artist. She also served as an artist mentor in programs making use of the healing powers of creativity. Since January, 2011, she’s led a Therapeutic Arts Journal Writing Program for incarcerated women. In 2014, she was included in the EPIC exhibition, organized by Unbound Visual Arts, at the Harvard Allston Education Portal. Her personal artist website is www.ruthsegaloff.com
Segaloff grew up in New Orleans in the nineteen fifties, at the violent beginnings of the civil rights movement and at the height of Joseph McCarthy’s “Communist witch hunts.” Later, while in college, John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy, all were assassinated. The Vietnam War, begun under JFK, gave rise to the anti-war movement and a violent response. These traumatic events greatly influenced her, and peace and social justice have been common themes of her artwork.
Stories have been central to Ruth’s forty year career in social work. She retired in 2008 to become a full time artist. Despite limited formal arts training, she has found considerable success. Since 2006, her artworks have been on exhibit in over sixty art shows throughout Massachusetts, including a number of medical and mental health settings.
Segaloff also serves as a therapeutic arts mentor in programs making use of the healing powers of creativity. These have included Medicine Wheel Productions in South Boston, and Girls, Incorporated of Lynn. In January, 2011, Ruth created “The Therapeutic Arts Journal Writing Program,” for incarcerated women At the South Middlesex Correctional Center, in a minimum security/pre-release prison.
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Ebony and Ivory
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Artist Statement for Temptation of the Mind and Body
In my art, I incorporate family mementos, found objects, ephemera and words as narrative tools to revisit historic events, family stories, our cultural heritage and social values.
As a conceptual artist, my intent above all, is to challenge observers to project onto my works, their own meaning. Thus every piece begins a dialogue between the work and the viewer, and has the potential to turn from violence triggered by fear. The whole movement of “Black Lives Matter” is a reaction against white police who automatically “shoot first and ask questions later.”
Both “I Come in Peace,” and “Deliver Us from Evil” are pleas for peace. They ask us to avoid the temptation of violence merely because the Other is an Alien or Stranger. They automatically become “the Enemy” when our Fight or Flight response is activated. These artworks plead that we begin with the assumption that the alien or stranger has no evil intent.
Artists throughout history have used art to speak out against injustice and to help make the world a better place. I’m proud to be a part of that tradition.
Main Artist Statement:
In my art, I incorporate family mementos, found objects, ephemera and words as narrative tools to revisit historic events, family stories, our cultural heritage and social values. As a conceptual artist, my intent is to challenge observers to project on my works, their own meaning. Thus every piece begins a dialogue between the work and the viewer, and hopefully, a discussion about what values we live by.
Most of my art is about human rights, social justice and war and peace. Surprisingly they closely parallel Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms: Freedom of Speech and Expression; Freedom of Worship; Freedom from Want; and Freedom from Fear.
My Berlin Wall series is a warning about the dangerous direction in which America is headed. We ignore basic human rights at our peril. “Build Doors Not Walls” is as current as today’s presidential candidates with the naive notion that if we wall off our borders, we’ll be safe from our enemies. “Love Is Thicker Than Cement” reminds us of a tragic consequence of the Berlin Wall: it literally tore apart families and loved ones; many died as they crossed the fortified barrier. “Awakening” shows the birth of resistance. This is my central concern about the November elections: Will “hate” win? “Coming Home” to almost total destruction is a terrible cost of terrorism whenever and wherever it happens.
Artists throughout history have used art to speak out against injustice and to help make the world a better place. I’m proud to be a part of that tradition.
Biography:
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I come from a family of artist storytellers, and stories in one form or another have filled my life. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, I joined VISTA, where I was stationed for a year on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation in Idaho. In 1969, I earned a Masters Degree in Social Work from Rutgers University and moved to Boston. In 2008, after a forty year career in social work, I retired to become a full time artist, though art and storytelling had long been part of my practice. Given my expressive arts background, I’ve also served as an artist mentor in programs making use of the healing powers of creativity. Since January, 2011, I’ve led a Therapeutic Arts Journal Writing Group for incarcerated women. Being an artist was never on my radar until I retired from social work. What I have been, ever since I was little, is a found objects collector. This dates back to when I was just six. Discovering in 2008, that found objects art is a legitimate genre changed all that. Joseph Cornell wandered New York City streets at night collecting objects for his shadow boxes. I collected rust and “trash” off streets in my neighborhood and beyond. Bettye Saar used Aunt Jemima dolls holding brooms in one hand and shotguns in the other to make a political statement about racism. This was the same purpose I wanted my art to serve. Marcel Duchamp’s “ready-mades,” changed the very definition of art, legitimizing found object art as a medium. Even Picasso turned rusty bike parts from the trash into an assemblage, “Bull’s Head 1942.” My artwork is greatly influenced by each of them. I’ve taken many arts classes at these renowned institutions since 2008: the Museum School of the MFA; the museum schools at the DeCordova and the Danforth; MassArt, Lesley University, the New Art Center; and the residential programs at Snow Farm, the New England Crafts Program. Despite no formal art education, I’ve had remarkable success with solo shows and international, national and state exhibitions. I most identify with art that has an important social narrative. Picasso’s mural, “Guernica,” depicting the cruelty of war; Betye Saar’s art which transforms racial stereotypes like Aunt Jemima into figures of liberation and empowerment. Both her use of art to make political statements, and her use of family memorabilia to memorialize relatives, have a direct impact on my work. |
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