Ruth Fine: In Search of the Place
Since the 1960s, Philadelphia-based artist Ruth Fine (born 1941) has been inspired by the natural world. This exhibition explores Fine's longstanding engagement with nature in terms of her "search for the place," an approach to artmaking that invites inquiry and collaboration.
- 12:30 – 2pm: Gallery Talk: Ruth Fine in Conversation with Maggie North
1912 Gallery, Canaday Library - 2 pm – 6:30pm: Drop-in Artmaking Activity
The Nook, Canaday Library - 4:30 - 6:30 pm: Ruth Fine: In Search of the Place Opening Reception
1912 Gallery, Canaday Library
It’s always a search for the place [...] that notion of finding a place, I don’t know whether it’s paradise, I don’t think it’s paradise, or maybe it is paradise, or some version of paradise, a place to be peaceful. Paradise isn’t exactly the right word. - Ruth Fine
Inspired by the cycles of growth and change found in nature, Philadelphia-based artist Ruth Fine (born 1941) transforms her experiences of land, waterways, and flora into dynamic, semi-abstract compositions. Clearly evocative of natural forms, Fine’s work is also shaped by an inventive approach to landscape that she describes as “a search for the place.”
Featuring works of art made between 1965 and 2026, this exhibition considers Fine’s longstanding engagement with the natural world in terms of her search. This intellectual and material search reflects Fine's multifaceted career as an artist, art historian, curator, and writer. It is expressed across a variety of media, including graphite, acrylic paint, and watercolor, but showcased most vividly by her printmaking practice. Many of the prints on view in this exhibition represent different stages in printmaking’s iterative process. They reveal the choices Fine made as she pulled proofs, assessed their success, and made changes to the plate, block, or stone. Made visible on paper, these revisions and reassessments document the material layers of her search.
Presented in thematic sections, this display engages with printmaking processes, compositional framing devices, and the formats of Fine’s work to demonstrate how her search transforms experiences in nature into distinctive compositions. In this exhibition, you are invited to look closely, consider your own search, and create an artwork. In short, you too can join the search.