Ruth Gee was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Scandinavian parents. Her family moved to Bolivia, South America as missionaries when she was six months old. She grew up in the Andean Mountains at 14,000 feet among the Inca Indians, being home schooled in English while speaking Spanish, English, & Aymara, with Danish and Norwegian words all mixed in. Ruth, her parents, an older sister and four younger brothers moved back to Minnesota when she was a junior in High School. There she had her first course in art, though she confesses to having illustrated her crib and any blank surface she could find while growing up. These usually included every stucco wall in the house, book margins, the dust paths, her body, her playmates, and more appropriate spots like a 4×8 foot black board her parents painted for her bedroom when she was 5. She remembers fondly staying up most of the night drawing by lamplight. All this practice seems to have left Ruth with a strong sense of form and line.
Her style is very realistic and she is locally known as the “renaissance artist. Her favorite subjects are people.
Oil painting has been her main vehicle for artistic expression. She does commissioned portrait work and allegorical paintings. In the last 12 years she has taken up sculpture as a means of helping her sister, Judy, a nurse and midwife, build a woman’s hospital back in Bolivia, S. A. near where they grew up among the Inca Indians.
Ruth has completed 7 large life size bronze sculptures. Her latest commission was a World War II Veteran, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for the city of Rockford, Michigan.
Ruth lives in Hastings, Michigan with her husband, who is an attorney, and near their three sons and their families. She works out of her art studio in her home and paints or sculptures 6 to 8 hours daily. An average painting takes three months and a bronze sculpture takes a year or more in sculpture time. One of her grandsons, Andrew Gee sculptures with her, which is a great joy to her.
Ruth’s personal commitment in art is based on the Bible verse:
“Finally, Brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8
Ruth Gee’s Artist Statement
“Art is a tool for expressing our hearts and heads. The “idea” or “message” is the real gem. Finding a medium that does justice to our idea is a struggle. Techniques and skills, availability, time constraints, cost, the public ear and eye for what we try to share, health and energy all seem to add to that effort. Learning our lessons from life and finding the gem in the everyday is what life is about. Wisdom is needed to recognize the gem, give it a home in us and know when it’s enough a part of us to share and be authentic. At times I find what I see on my canvas has never been a conscious thought to me but I recognize it as a part of me. Without art I stand mute.”
Education and Training:
– Home schooled – through 8th grade.
– Tambo missionary boarding school – 9th and 10th grade.
– Northfield High School, Northfield, MN – 11th grade.
– Augustana Acedemy, Canton, SD – 12th grade.
– Art Instruction School, Minneapolis, MN – by correspondence.
– Taylor University, Upland, IN.
– Home Study
Email: ruth@ruthgee.com
Contact me for information on commissions and pricing on already completed art.
RUTH GEE ART 