SCG ART Program Events

My artistic practice spans a lifetime, from the earliest memories sitting under the baby grand while my mother taught voice, to years of piano studies; to the discovery of the French horn and subsequent years at Manhattan School of Music; the professional years of orchestral playing; and finally, to picking up a paintbrush when my music career was interrupted, leading to a new phase of creative life in art. Much of my artist’s life is outlined in the cover letter. This statement chronicles the nature of my career’s pursuit.

After the conscious decision to leave my horn behind for the opportunity to live in Japan, an interesting segue occurred. I was introduced to Japanese Shodo, (calligraphic writing,) which bonded me into a relationship with the brush. Returning to the States, I pursued figurative drawing and painting intensely for two years, the end of which sealed my devotion to brush and the figure.

The selection of work included here represents a sampling of my journey through various series of work accomplished over the last 27 years.

Jitterbug, 26” x 40” watercolor, (private collection,) represents an early “Dance,” series of about 40 works, which evidences a generous use of line, the results of my study in Japan.

Opus Pocus, 60” x 40” watercolor and India ink; (Music Academy of the West permanent
collection,) is one in a series of more than 30 works called “Constructions.” Many of them are music themed. “Constructions” wove through years of a larger genre of work using India Ink with watercolor.

East of Yesterday, 280” x 123”, acrylic, (exterior murals; commissioned 2017,) represents my foray into acrylic paint. Its massive size covers two walls of a downtown Santa Barbara building and is still intact. With no direction from the commissioners other than to depict the History of the Funk Zone, the story unfolded across two panels in a design of my own making, with hundreds of drawings, gleaned from months of research, juxtaposed into place, replaced, and replaced over and over, until it came together as a whole. This intense work changed the projection of my painting and professional life.

Unaccompanied Cello, 30” x 30”, acrylic, (private collector,) and Impromptu, 26” x 35”, acrylic, (currently at Gallery 826, Los Angeles) represents work during the prolific years as
owner/curator of REH GraySpace Gallery. Milonga, 56” x 59”, acrylic, (private collector,) an Red Dot, 56” x 55”, acrylic, were produced during this time as well, where I had ample space to experiment with larger pieces and play with the abstraction of the figurative genre.

Beach Day, 30” x 42”, acrylic, Pompidou, 40” x 26”, acrylic, and Scott Joplin, Six-Hands, 25” x 30”, acrylic and graphite, (currently at Gallery 826, Los Angeles) are new works that continues my exploration into imaginative storytelling of the world as I see it.

~Ruth Ellen Hoag