Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Ruiz.
Katie, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I am a Chicana artist. I was born and raised in California and grew up in North East LA until I was 10 years old when my parents got divorced. We moved to AZ where I grew up with my mom and my sister. I did my undergraduate degree at Northern Arizona University. After college I moved back to Southern California.
In 2012 I decided to move to NYC to pursue my dream of being a painter. I went to graduate school at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture. At NYSS I met some amazing artists and teachers and learned about the art world. I learned how to really see and paint for the first time. Graham Nickson is my mentor and teacher in NY, he taught me the elements of great painting. Even though I have always been an artist this school taught me to see and paint in a new way. I focused on composition, color, and narrative in my work and created the series of blanket paintings I am most well known for today.
4 years later I decided to move home to LA after my father passed away and I wanted to be closer to family again.
When I got here I had to navigate a whole new art world. I started painting out of my aunts garage in Highland park and met some great artists. A few of my art friends from NYC also came back to LA and it’s been wonderful to have such talented fellow comrades in my life. I wanted to bring more art communities together. I consider myself a connector. I love to help other artists get opportunities.
Earlier this year I decided to open a gallery in Little Italy, San Diego. I choose 2-3 artists from LA or San Diego and merge them with artists from NYC. We are going into our 5th show and the gallery is really taking off in an exciting way. The artists are making connections with each other and building bridges between the SD, LA, NYC & MX. It’s really exciting to watch and be a part of. The gallery is called Vivid Space SD.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My blanket paintings started out as a way to abstract the figure. I wanted elements of the figure in my work but I also wanted the viewer to be able to see themselves under the blankets. When you paint a portrait the viewer sees another person and not themselves. But if you paint a person under a blanket and you can’t see their face, the viewer sees themselves as the person or people under the blanket.
The blanket began to have significance because each blanket I painted is from a real blanket that I have collected along my travels. The first was a Mexican blanket and the second was an Indian blanket. I started to study patterns in weavings and painted a different blanket on every painting. The blanket paintings usually portray two people interacting in some way under the blanket by cuddling, hugging or just standing together. Sometimes outside elements come into play like paths or ocean or wind which pull or push the couples together. I realized I needed to learn the symbolism of the patterns I was painting in order to add to the narrative of the story.
I went to an artist residency Oaxaca to learn how to back strap weave. This is the most ancient type of weaving where you strap the loom around your back and tie it to a post or tree to create tension. While in Oaxaca I learned many of the symbols and patterns that are used to tell stories in textiles.
When I came back I wove many pieces and began to embroider yarn and embroidery floss into the paintings. then I began to use the weavings to create a soft sculpture out of yarn and natural elements with rocks, shells and found objects. I didn’t want to limit myself to the canvas anymore. My vision no longer fits a square canvas. The new soft sculptures are about the #metoo movement. They are altered for our bodies. They are created to honor each of us who has been a survivor of assault.
I have always been in love with arts and crafts. Mexico has such amazing craft elements with the papel Picado, paper maché, ceramics, printmaking and more. I gathered from those ideas and created craft like objects as fine art.
Recently, I made several giant paper flowers and integrated them into my #metoo installation. Next, I learned how to crochet and began to crochet elements into the installation. The fruit and body crochet pieces will be used in an upcoming performance piece at Ship in the Woods in Escondido CA, June 16-17.
How can artists connect with other artists?
As artists, we have to spend a lot of time alone. We paint alone, we need thinking time and studio time. It can get lonely. What I realized is if you can’t find the art world in your area, make one! Have a pop-up show, invite artists you know to participate, it’s in our hands now. Most artists I know also dabble in curating. Curating is great to help build connections and to get a taste of how hard galleries work for you.
GO TO ART SHOWS! It’s the best way to connect and learn about new art and make friends. Hold critique days! Ask your friends to come to tell you how they feel about your work. Make sure its people who’s work you admire. Always spend time with people who you think are better artists than you. Learn from them.
Ask stupid questions. You can’t know everything about art it’s too vast and constantly changing and growing. Ask questions, interview artists, learn why they do what they do. Heck, read articles like this! Get comfortable failing.
You are going to fail. That’s how you succeed. Just get up and go back at it. You apply to a show, you don’t get in, drop it into your rejection folder and apply to another. I’d say 1 out of 10 is winning in my book. Don’t limit yourself to your school group. This one is hard for me because I had such a tight-knit group of amazing artists I graduated with but as I meet people who went to other schools I learn about a whole new group of artists.
Lastly, do not close yourself to one medium. Take a class, go on a residency, learn something you think you’d be terrible at. You’ll meet new people with each new medium you try.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
My work can be seen at:
-Northern Daughters Gallery
221 Main St
Vergennes, VT
paintings are on display
-Pop.Up. Encinitas
1010 South Coast Highway, Encinitas CA
Paintings and prints on display through August
-Ship in the woods
Music and Art Festival June 16-17
Performance piece with artist Brian Black
Felicita County Park
Escondido, CA
Contact Info:
- Address: 2420 India St. San Diego CA 92101
- Website: www.KatieRuizArt.com and www.VividSpaceSD.com
- Phone: 760-330-7865
- Email: katie@vividspacesd.com
- Instagram: @KatieRuizArt and @vividspacesd
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatieRuizArt and https://www.facebook.com/Vividspacesd
Image Credit:
Sarah Castro
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