Artscape Archive
(2010-06-27)
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Ginny Ruffner in her garden
Photo by Jennifer Wing
Sitting in the dining room in Ruffner's house, just off the main drag of Old Ballard, ones eyes can be entertained for hours by Ruffner's work. There are her paintings, lots of grapes (a recurring theme for her) and suspended in air are pink, glass balloons. They're shiny, just like large bubbles of gum about to burst. Outside is her lush green garden, starting to come into its showy summer self. None of this is supposed to exist because back in 1991, doctors said Ruffner was going to be a vegetable for the rest of her life after suffering a severe head injury from a car crash. When the accident comes up in conversation, Ruffner just smiles, rolls her eyes and laughs.
Ginny Ruffner's Aesthetic Engineering Series |
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It's compelling stuff. The accident left Ruffner unable to speak or move. She found her voice, got around in a wheel chair for 5-years and eventually taught herself how to walk again with the help of a cane. What would have squashed most people like a bug is just a footnote to Ruffner.
After the crash, Ginny says her mind was like a familiar empty house she had to move back into. But one thing was clear, she was an artist and it was her drive and passion for her work that pulled her through to where she is today: a very successful artist.
"Part of being a professional artist is making a fool of yourself. You have to risk everything, risk people laughing at you. You see, a lot of people, they want to get well, but they are not willing to fall down while walking. But if you aren't afraid of being a fool, then that makes it easier."
Ruffner is known for a technique called lamp-work. It involves using a blowtorch to tease glass like taffy. While a lot of glass art involves rounded shapes, Ruffner turns glass into ideas. A cat with long arms holding up an arch of colorful fish, an alien on surf board and flowers that are five feet wide reaching out to grab you. In the new documentary, "A Not So Still Life," gallery owner William Traveler says her work broke new ground.
"Most lamp working you see is done at a variety show or a circus or something. Somebody is sitting at a stool doing these little elephants and zebras and tat's lamp working. Then she [Ruffner] cam along and did it on a scale no one had ever seen before. And then to paint on it the way that she did was just a way of working with glass that no one had ever really explored before."
"Ginny is not someone who lives in the past. That is painfully clear to anybody who talks to her."
Stanton says the beginning of the film tells the story of Ginny's fame before the accident.
"She had had amazing art shows. Her art was becoming known around the world. Absolut Vodka did a consignment for an 'Absolut Ruffner' poster. They did 2 of them! One was 3D. The only other 3D one they did was with Andy Warhol. She was becoming the deal.' Then right at the peak, that wreck came."
The documentary could have easily lingered here, taking a "woe is me" turn. But it doesn't, because Ruffner never did that. Stanton says for Ruffner, the wreck really was just a speed bump.
Ginny Ruffner's Metal and Glass Sculptures |
Today, Ruffner's pieces sell from $24,000 to $150,000. Public works go for a lot more.
At the very end of "A Not So Still Life" Ruffner looks into the camera and asks, "Do you know what you want?" She goes on to say, "I mean not right now, not like dinner or clothes or something. What do you want to do with your life?"
What do you want to do with your life? That's a good question. Taking a page out of Ruffner's book isn't a bad path to follow. Ruffner is always on the hunt to learn something new and she wants to be surprised. She doesn't really believe in fear and thinks it's very limiting. Filmmaker Karen Stanton says these are a few of the ideas she wants people to ponder after seeing the film. "A Not So Still Life" is playing at various film festivals across the country before a wider, national release.
"Ginny Ruffner: A Not So Still Life" Official Website
Bellevue Arts Museum (Featuring Ruffner's newest works in October)
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