FLAUNA & FORA
April 4 – April 27, 2019
Opening: Thursday, April 4, 5-8PM
Traver Gallery is pleased to present Flauna and Fora, a new exhibition by renowned artist, Ginny Ruffner. Showcasing a collection of exciting new sculptural works alongside a selection of critical archived works, this exhibition celebrates Ruffner’s most extraordinary talents: her continual curiosity for understanding the world we live in and her boundless imagination capable of re-envisioning it.
Driven by a life-long passion for art, science, and learning, Ruffner’s artistic practice is continually evolving as she incorporates new technologies and techniques to achieve her artistic vision. In her latest body of work, Ruffner continues her exploration of how genetic engineering and technology alter our world and the potential for these scientific advances to change plants and animals in drastic non-evolutionary ways. With paint, glass, 3-D rendering tools, and augmented reality, Ruffner creates sculptures that depict an imagined metamorphic reality; one where flower blossoms take on animal characteristics; where petroglyph drawings become animate and active participants in their rocky realms; where vegetable bulbs and light bulbs grow together on a single vine. Ruffner, with her typical quick wit, says of her work, “I find the description ‘glass-artist’ amusing. It implies you are an artist made of glass, and glass is only about twenty-five percent of what I do. My art is thinking.”
Ginny Ruffner trained at the University of Georgia as a painter, graduating with honors and an MFA in painting. Ruffner has had 88 solo shows, several hundred group shows, and her work is in 55 permanent museum and public collections around the world. Seattle public art installations include a 30-foot tall kinetic water feature downtown and a permanent installation in the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park. Recent Augmented Reality projects include Weston Riff at Photo Center NW, Branches at Seattle International Film Festival and Poetic Hybrids at Seattle Art Museum. She has written two books and been the subject of an award-winning, full-length documentary titled A Not So Still Life, the Ginny Ruffner Story. Her latest project, Reforestation of the Imagination, first shown at MadArt in Seattle, will travel to the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery this spring. Ruffner has lectured and taught extensively and served as an artist-in-residence numerous times at schools and universities around the world.
For additional information, please contact Traver Gallery at 206.587.6501 or info@travergallery.com