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    On a long, landscape-oriented wooden panel, a mythical creature sits in an open field. The creature has a central furry body with the head of a young woman extending on each side, each with their own pair of arms. In the lower right corner, a drawer can be pulled in and out, which is clutched by the painted hands of the creature.
    Caption
    Asking my mother for my baby teeth, Ruth Speer, 2024, oil on built wooden panel with drawer, 61 x 32 x 5 cm

    ©the artist

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    A painting featuring in the lower half the head of a young woman with her eyes closed, braiding her hair on one side, and above a white shape with sections. Surrounding the white shape is a landscape with castle towers in the distance.
    Caption
    Moved in its slumber and wept, Ruth Speer, 2023, oil on panel, 27 x 50 cm

    ©the artist

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    Two tiny paintings, nearly identical, of a red brick New England-style church with a white steeple.
    Caption
    Jericho I, Jericho II, Ruth Speer, 2024, oil on wood, 3 x 4 cm and 3.5 x 4 cm

    ©the artist

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    A creature with the torso and head of a young woman and the body of a dog holds a fork and knife in her hands against a pink background.
    Caption
    I spend my waking hours worrying about what to say to you, Ruth Speer, 2023, oil on linen, 110 x 120 cm

    ©the artist

Ruth Speer – MA/MFA

I think of my work as a series of personal folktales, a combination of odd utility, scene selections and allegories of something true. I build wooden structures to house my paintings as a continuation of the interior life I grew up with, homeschooled with my sisters in rural areas on both sides of the States. The imagery of mythology and visual language of Western painting history reflects this experience, being the textbooks I consumed most fervently. Important things involved are: hair, furniture, tactility, the forest, the body, God, theatre, fantasy, “let’s go play outside,” and a personal accord with things that take time.