Ruth Ormerod: Selected Works
July 12—August 4, 2024
​A variety of works including etchings, drawings, watercolors, and screen-prints.
Reception with the artist's daughter Willo Stuart: July 12, 5-7pm

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Sudden Sunset (watercolor)

Blue Moth (etching)

Ruth Ormerod (1974) with "In the Jungle" and "Blue Moth"

Ruth Ormerod (1929 - 2012), a long-time Chico resident and arts educator, created a unique and  noteworthy body of work in her lifetime, primarily in printmaking and watercolor painting. The artist, originally from Riverside, California, won a scholarship to study at the Chouinard Art  Institute in Los Angeles and then continued to earn her BA from George Peabody College in Nashville.  After working in Nashville and New York, Ormerod came to Chico in 1963 with her then-husband Tom Griffith, a CSU, Chico professor of  art. She earned her MA in printmaking at Chico State, where she studied with Dr.  Janet Turner and Marion Epting. Ormerod spent most of her career teaching art in many settings. She  was an adjunct art instructor at Chico State throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s and taught art classes for children and adults at the Chico Art Center and through the public schools. Ormerod has had  her work exhibited nationally and locally, most recently with work included in Deep Etch, Legends of  Chico Printmaking at the Janet Turner Print Museum in 2018. In addition to teaching, Ormerod was  actively involved with local plein air painting and figure drawing groups at Chico Art Center.

Artist's Statement
“Through my art I want the viewer to experience what I feel when I observe nature and to see the influence it exercises on  my imagination. I want to capture the mystery of the unexplained, feelings impossible to verbalize, that can only be expressed in  images. My art reflects both the natural world around me and  imaginary things and dream images, so fantasy is as important as reality. Recurring images in my work derive from vivid childhood memories in southern California: tall palm trees bending in the harsh Santa Ana winds and rocky, sagebrush hills…I transform  all these images into pictorial fantasies. My watercolor work is most influenced by Southern California artists Millard Sheets and Rex Brandt. They are famous for their plein air technique that is free, loose, flowing, and colorful. The  work is not realistic yet completely represents the subject matter.  Janet Turner got me started in printmaking. The technique was fascinating and quite different from watercolor. As I learned more, I added color, which is a more involved process…I am continually motivated to explore different media to see how each can express feelings, images, and ideas.” 

In the Jungle (etching, 1968)