About the Artist

Ruth Adler grew up in Alberta where the open blue sky of the prairies made a deep impression on her visual language. After high school, Ruth went off in search of a warmer climate and found it in Tel Aviv, where she divided her time between hanging out on the beach and studying art and design. She then spent the next twenty years traveling between Canada and Israel, with frequent stopovers in Italy and New York.

It was in Italy that Ruth discovered her love and fascination for textile pattern that inspired her in the study of textile design. She brought to this traditional field her prairie sensibility of simplicity and balance, and a wild colour sense reminiscent of Henri Matisse that she likely acquired from her years living on the shores of the Mediterranean.

In the early eighties, Ruth walked into Marci Lipman Graphics on Avenue Road in Toronto with some textile designs under her arm and began her career in t-shirts and fashion, a wave she and Marci rode till the late nineties. During this time, Ruth started a t-shirt company in Israel known as Lipti Art to Wear, which was to become a household name in Israel. She continued to receive design commissions from both sides of the Atlantic such as the Schneider Children’s Hospital in Petach Tiqva and linen collections for Martex and Macy’s while running a business, raising a family and teaching surface design at the Shenkar Institute of Design. Her vibrant, colourful Lipti t-shirts were sold all over Europe and in the United States. As well, Ruth had exhibitions of her serigraphs in New York, Tel Aviv and Toronto.

In the late nineties, back in North America, Ruth wrote, illustrated, and directed a series of short animated films that attest to her love of Canada’s rugged beauty and colorful history. Ruth received a BravoFACT award in 2000 for her film “How Yellowknife got its Name”. This was about the time that Ruth discovered a new landscape in the form of a circle which she refers to as “her inner landscape” one that has served as the basis of her art and design work since 2001. From the outset, Jim Kempner Fine Art has represented Ruth’s circles in New York and the Lonsdale Gallery carries her work in Toronto.

For Ruth, there are no boundaries between art and design. She follows her erudite intuition that guides her along her evolving journey of creativity; one that celebrates life and nature in all its brilliant colour.

Ruth's latest series of circles will be exhibited in New York at Jim Kempner Fine Art opening in May 2006. Her large scale prints are powerful and bold in color and sensitive and thoughtful in form.