Artist of the Month June 2011

Diane C. Ruark

North Attleborough, Massachusetts

I have been creating art since 2005. My work has been on display at the Village Artisans Collaborative retail store in North Attleborough, MA, as well as other North Attleborough locations, including the Speed of Thought Players Café, the Richards Library, Plaster Plus, the Hockomock YMCA, and Grace Episcopal Church. I was born and raised in Rhode Island. Besides Massachusetts, I have lived in Kentucky, New Hampshire, and New York. I hold a bachelor’s degree from Gordon College, Wenham, MA; and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY; and Andover Newton Theological School, Newton Centre, MA. My professional background includes teaching, writing, editing, and office administration. I have seriously pursued my interest in art since retiring from full-time work in 2006. I am married, and have three children and five grandchildren. I studied collage under Carol Davis Blackwell at the Danforth Museum School in Framingham, MA. In addition to the locations listed above, my work has been exhibited at Andover Newton Theological School; St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Framingham, MA; and the Danforth Museum School.

How and when did you start creating art?

As a high school student in the 1950’s, I was considered to have some aptitude for art. Once out of high school, however, I went in other directions and was not at all involved with art until I became associated with Andover Newton Theological School as a student and staff member in the late 1990’s. At that time Andover Newton provided many extra-curricular opportunities for members of its community to engage in the creation of art. I attended a one-day workshop in collage, and found I had an affinity for that medium. After retiring from my position at Andover Newton in 2006, I took some courses, opened a studio, and got serious.

What media and genres do you work in?

My primary genre is collage, and I work mostly with paper, including various kinds of art papers, scrap paper, images from old newspapers, magazines and calendars, and photographs. I will frequently incorporate fabric, ribbon, lace, and small objects into my work. More recently I have begun to combine watercolor, gesso, acrylic, and colored pencils with collaged elements.

Who or what are your influences?

That’s a tough one, since I have very little formal art training! Obviously, my teacher and mentor, Carol Davis Blackwell, has been an influence. I greatly admire the work of Joseph Cornell. Some of my work has been described as Surrealism, and some has been compared to that of Henri Rousseau, but if these are influences, they are largely unconscious. My love and observation of nature and my spiritual beliefs are certainly influences.

For A Childhood Conceit, I was working with a book on how to write one’s spiritual autobiography, and I was reflecting in my journal on how I saw myself when I was a child. As I was writing, I suddenly got a visual image of what I was writing about, so I made a rough sketch in my journal, which I later developed into the finished piece. I tried to make the piece suggestive of what a child’s art might look like, hence the writing in black Sharpie (which, by the way, is taken almost verbatim from my journal entry).

Describe your creative process?

It varies. My inspiration is often an image or an object—a picture of a particularly engaging face, or a beautiful scrap of cloth or paper—that inspires me to create a setting for it. At other times I have in mind an idea, a concept, or a mood that I want to communicate visually, and I go in search of images that will help me express it.

What are you working on currently?

Since celebrating a milestone birthday in January 2011, I have become interested in tracing my family history and writing my memoirs. My reflections on my past, particularly childhood, are starting to show up in my work, as exemplified by the piece “A Childhood Conceit.” I am currently working on a piece in a similar vein, expressing another aspect of the way I experienced the world as a small child.

What are your near/long term goals as an artist?

I’m not sure I have any! I have said in the past that knowing that someone is willing to pay money for what I create is a kind of validation. But I am not creating art primarily to make money. I guess my goals are to be recognized and accepted as an artist, and to have the personal satisfaction of knowing that the people who see my work think that I have something to say as an artist and am saying it effectively.

Where can people view/purchase your work (gallery, website, etc)?

A representative selection of my work can be seen on my website, www.collagebydiane.com. I have a studio in Plainville, MA, where my work can be seen by appointment. (email collagebydiane@aol.com.) I also have work on sale at Artiste Art and Craft Gallery, 263 North Main Street, Mansfield, MA 02048, 508-399-0855 (Cindy O’Brien, proprietor).