Ruth was born in Cleveland, Ohio as one of ten children in a Brady Bunch-type family. Ruth has been an equestrian for most of her life and has a deep affection for animals, particularly livestock. A world traveler at a very young age, Ruth enjoys new smells, sights, sounds, and being uncomfortable. She is a "horse person".
Ruth has shown and spoken about her work internationally and throughout the United States. In 2017, Ruth received her MFA in interdisciplinary studio art from the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design. She currently holds a full time teaching position (Digital Arts) in the School of Art at Bowling Green State University. Ruth has previously taught at Adrian College, and co-taught at the University of Michigan.
Ruth owns a small business that specializes in research, digital archiving, and small scale video services. You can find her somewhere between Northeast/Northwest Ohio and in the summers, Southeast Michigan.
Ruth collaborates with various living beings at Firesign Family Farm in Whitmore Lake, MI, under the mentorship of Ruth Ehman.
research interests:
- interspecies relationships and performance
- pragmatic ecofeminism (Erin McKenna)
- multi-sensory thinking (Temple Grandin)
- relational antagonism/relational aesthetics (Claire Bishop/Nicolas Bourriaud)
- animal studies, animal cognition
- phenomenology and technology (sound, moving image, responsive environments)
- chosen family: queer and animal kin
- various methods of mediating interspecies relationships & multispecies ethnography
- small-scale agriculture & livestock farming
- site-specific art making
- social practice/socially engaged art/community building through art practice
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Photo by Jesse Meria.