Joanne Ruggles

Show ran from 6/7/2006 to 6/30/2006

"Stone of Hope," paintings

The artist  introduces us to a new body of figurative paintings created to address the political and religious ferment of our times. As the series evolved, the artist was diagnosed with breast cancer and through her art struggled to make sense of a personal world that shockingly mirrored the greater world gone mad. ARC's Special Events Gallery - a small and intimate space - acts at once as gallery, asylum, and chapel. Timeless conditions of the human psyche are captured here in sensuous color, sly seductive paint handling, and intimate scale. Close inspection is required. Ruggles unflinchingly examines intense emotion and her audience might  just experience discomfort on the way to finding empathy - but this studio art professor deems that a worthy goal for all who are willing to take the journey.