Erica Ruch ~ News » Art

Some fall and winter photography

admin — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 20:27:02 +0000

Well, I hesitated even adding ‘winter’ into the title of this post because winter is barely here! Being that it’s the middle of December and we still haven’t seen the first snow, I really don’t feel like fall has left us!

I’m still having fun with my Canon Rebel and figuring out this whole photography-thing. Being that we have so many animals around this house – I can’t help but make them the regular subjects of my experiements.

Here’s some of my photos from the past couple months:

A gift

admin — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 05:40:07 +0000

This past weekend I was so excited to give my step-mom a painting of her 2 sweet “kids” Sadie (11 years) and Ziggy (who passed a few years ago). it’s taken me nearly 3 years to finish (with the moving between, Florida, Austin & Mass – my studio life has been in upheaval), and I couldn’t have been any happier than to finally be able to frame it and give it to her.

Drawing Club – Week 1

admin — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 23:29:28 +0000

I eagerly joined a drawing club started by a friend of mine from Montserrat. 4 weeks, 4 drawings, and each week you mail a drawing to a different person in the club…that means that every week I mail out a drawing, and every week I get a drawing. Nifty idea, huh? So, since I’ve been trying to do much more drawing and painting – this was an excellent opportunity. Here’s the drawing I mailed out this week for the theme “From one place to the other place.” The idea being that the lonely apples destiny is to end up in the “other place”….a.k.a “the ground”.

Creativity Kicks In

admin — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:51:29 +0000

Things have been busy around here – teaching at Montserrat College of Art has been a blast – and is really rekindling my creativity! It’s amazing to see what my students produce, and completely inspiring to be back surrounded by such a vast amount art! I’ve been back in my studio painting again recently – after quite a long hiatus during grad school – and I’ve also been drawing regularly again as well. It’s nice to get away from the computer every once in awhile!

Oh, and my new love is my new Canon DSLR. I’ve always been interested in photography – but never felt inspired to make the financial investment. Boy am I inspired now! My bank account isn’t too happy about it, but I am! I’ve been snapping photos around here like a maniac. My animals seem to be the main victims of my newfound-hobby…being that they’re the only subjects that are more than eager to participate in just about anything.

Here’s my handsome pup, Calvin – and his leggy-sister Clementine:

And our newest little man of the house, Frankenstein:

I’ve also gotten around to updating my portfolio with some projects I’ve worked on in the past couple months. Check out the new Jukebox the Ghost website we got up a few weeks ago to commemorate their new album. I also posted some new items to the Design and Interactive galleries so feel free to peruse the new work! AVA2ZJBTR7WN

BLOOM: A Memorial project for the Massachusetts Mental Health Center

admin — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:06:53 +0000

I’ve been doing some research on this project, as well as the artist, Anna Schuleit, and thought it was worthy to pass along. Though I never got to visit the installation – I had friends who both worked on the installation, as well as got to experience it during it’s 4 day existence - and told me (quite persistently) how amazing it was.

In November of 2003, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts decided to close the doors of the Massachusetts Mental Health Center – 91 years after it’s inception. The hospital had been one of the oldest public teaching hospitals in the country. In response to the closing, artist Anna Schuleit developed “BLOOM – a site-specific installation that would commemorate the building, it’s history, and the people it had both staffed and served.

For 4 days in November 2003, the Massachusetts Mental Health Center opened it’s doors to the public to reveal a transformation of the space. BLOOM, as a Postmodern art-installation, succeeded in drawing the viewers into an entirely sensory-filled, participatory experience – in which they moved throughout the building experiencing new colors, textures, smells, and sounds with each corner they turned:

“BLOOM consisted of 28,000 potted, blooming flowers, selected and sorted by color, and placed throughout four floors of the historic building. The basement hallways were carpeted in live sod for viewers to walk on. The old public announcement system was used to play recorded sounds of the building from the days leading up to its closing”

The hallways and rooms of the building, which were typically colorless, were transformed carpetings of blooms. Each area featuring a different flower each in a distinct color. Thousands upon thousands of purple african violets, orange tulips, red tulips, yellow begonias, Narciissus Paperwhites, ferns, white chrysanthemum, and wildflowers each carpeted separate hallways and rooms of the building. The result was breathtaking textural fields of colors and scents. The basement was carpeted in sod, which viewers could walk on.

The installation, though visually transforming, also spoke to another experience – that in reflection of the thousands of sick patients who had lived inside of it’s colorless and drab space. As it is often customary for hospital-ridden patients to receive flowers, often long-term psychiatric patients did not. Therefore the 28,000 flowers in the installation also symbolized a healing remembrance. After the installation was removed the flowers were donated to surrounding institutions and hospitals.

For more information about this installation you can check out the projects website: http://www.1856.org/bloom/index.html