Past solo exhibition in the Small Space at Transmission Gallery:
Ruth Santee, Talking Without Talking, 2022, mixed media, 22" x 20" x 9"
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Ruth Santee
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In joy or sadness, flowers are our constant friends.”
― Okakura Kakuzo
― Okakura Kakuzo
About Ruth Santee:
Santee is an artist living and working in a converted church located in the California’s Central Valley. Life revolves around her studio practice, teaching art at San Joaquin Delta College and owning a contemporary art gallery in Oakland CA.
Originally from Aurora, CO, she moved away from Colorado in her twenties to attend college in Santa Fe and then graduate school at the San Francisco Art Institute.
About the Work:
Five years ago, Santee began a body of work based solely on flower imagery. Prior to this, the focus of her art was on insect forms. She began to incorporate plants and flowers into insect themed compositions and her interest in flora took over.
Her current creations are surreal anthropomorphic floral characters existing in a human world. Themes of identity, feminism, strength in the face of the current social climate, as well as environmental concerns, course through the veins of the work.
She uses a variety of recycled materials : junk mail, sketchbook pages, objects found in secondhand stores, cardboard tubes, labels, toy parts, and dried gourds from her garden. The color palette is rich and loud, bright and vibrant, like the colors of her 70’s childhood toys.
Santee sees flowers as a metaphor for the human condition, a constant reminder that life and beauty will thrive when given care and regard.
Santee is an artist living and working in a converted church located in the California’s Central Valley. Life revolves around her studio practice, teaching art at San Joaquin Delta College and owning a contemporary art gallery in Oakland CA.
Originally from Aurora, CO, she moved away from Colorado in her twenties to attend college in Santa Fe and then graduate school at the San Francisco Art Institute.
About the Work:
Five years ago, Santee began a body of work based solely on flower imagery. Prior to this, the focus of her art was on insect forms. She began to incorporate plants and flowers into insect themed compositions and her interest in flora took over.
Her current creations are surreal anthropomorphic floral characters existing in a human world. Themes of identity, feminism, strength in the face of the current social climate, as well as environmental concerns, course through the veins of the work.
She uses a variety of recycled materials : junk mail, sketchbook pages, objects found in secondhand stores, cardboard tubes, labels, toy parts, and dried gourds from her garden. The color palette is rich and loud, bright and vibrant, like the colors of her 70’s childhood toys.
Santee sees flowers as a metaphor for the human condition, a constant reminder that life and beauty will thrive when given care and regard.
More about Ruth Santee
Ruth Santee, a California based artist, was born in Denver CO. Her work has been exhibited in museum and gallery venues. She received a BFA from the College of Santa Fe, and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Santee is a recipient of the Cadogan Fellowship Award from the San Francisco Foundation and a commission from the San Francisco Arts Commission.
Santee is best known for her out of the ordinary way of cutting to the core of our humanness through her art. She playfully juxtaposes elements of reality with surrealism. Insects, plants and flowers adopt human narratives in her unique papier-mâché sculptures of found papers and recycled junk.
Permanent collections include the University of Oregon, the David Brower Center, Berkeley CA, the US Forestry Service and California State University Sacramento Special Collections. Her work has been reviewed in publications including the Los Angeles Times, Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and the Sacramento Bee.
In addition to her studio practice, Santee is the director and co/owner of Transmission Gallery Oakland and TG San Francisco. Transmission Contemporary Galleries both exhibit work by local and regional artists. Transmission Gallery is a member of the Oakland Art Murmur and SF Art Dealer Association.
Santee is also active in Fine Art Education. She has taught at the California College of Art Extended Ed Program, UC Davis, Saint Mary's College, and Bakersfield College. Currently she is a tenured professor at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton CA. where she teaches printmaking, Color Theory and 2D Design.
Santee is best known for her out of the ordinary way of cutting to the core of our humanness through her art. She playfully juxtaposes elements of reality with surrealism. Insects, plants and flowers adopt human narratives in her unique papier-mâché sculptures of found papers and recycled junk.
Permanent collections include the University of Oregon, the David Brower Center, Berkeley CA, the US Forestry Service and California State University Sacramento Special Collections. Her work has been reviewed in publications including the Los Angeles Times, Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and the Sacramento Bee.
In addition to her studio practice, Santee is the director and co/owner of Transmission Gallery Oakland and TG San Francisco. Transmission Contemporary Galleries both exhibit work by local and regional artists. Transmission Gallery is a member of the Oakland Art Murmur and SF Art Dealer Association.
Santee is also active in Fine Art Education. She has taught at the California College of Art Extended Ed Program, UC Davis, Saint Mary's College, and Bakersfield College. Currently she is a tenured professor at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton CA. where she teaches printmaking, Color Theory and 2D Design.
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TRANSMISSION GALLERY
OAKLAND 770 West Grand Ave., Suite A, Oakland, CA 94612 Open Thurs-Sat, 12 to 5 pm till 8 pm on the first Friday of the month and by appointment Accessibility: This a 2nd floor art gallery, accessible by stairs. |
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