Ruth Chambers (born 1960) is an installation artist based in
Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...
. She works with a wide range of media, and her art has incorporated everything from unfired
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
, ceramics and found objects to the latest in audio-visual media.
Biography
Chambers was born in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
and in 1983 she graduated from the
Ontario College of Art
Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within do ...
as an Associate of the Ontario College of Art. From 1983 to 1984 she worked in the Ceramics Department of the Sun Valley Centre for the Arts and Humanities in
Sun Valley, Idaho
Sun Valley is a resort city in the western United States, in Blaine County, Idaho, adjacent to the city of Ketchum in the Wood River valley. The population was 1406 at the 2010 census, down from 1427 in 2000. She obtained her MFA from the
University of Regina
The University of Regina is a public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchew ...
in 1994.
Chambers' work has also explored a number of themes. Some of her sculptures have depicted elements of the human body, while other works by her have combined elements of classical design (such as
Tuscan order
The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with u ...
columns) with natural imagery, such as fluttering oak leaves.
Writing in 2006, Chambers said of ceramics and installation: "Ceramics is a medium traditionally associated with craft production and defined by its material qualities rather than its expressed content. Installation on the other hand, usually takes the form of a temporary environment specific in both look and meaning to its location, it employs a range of media, and the materials are often non-traditional and secondary in importance to the idea expressed."
Chambers's more recent installation art explores both natural and architectural themes. Recent pieces feature unfired clay objects placed in darkened space; the pieces are then activated by dramatic lighting and visual projections. According to Chambers, her contrasting style is intended to disorient the viewer, as "these installations are intended to intervene into compemporary architecture with the intent of inserting a different kind of aesthetic into spaces that are usually unornamented and designed to be quite neutral."
Chambers has exhibited throughout both Canada and the United States. She is a founding member of Petri’s Quadrille, a Regina-based artists’ collective (1997 - 2006). She has exhibited at institutions such as the
Burlington Art Centre
The Art Gallery of Burlington, founded in 1978, is the seventh largest public art gallery in Ontario. The Gallery collects and maintains Canada's largest collection of contemporary Canadian ceramics. It is located on the City of Burlington water ...
, the
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is a public provincial art museum based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The art museum's primary building complex is located in downtown Halifax and takes up approximately of space. The museum complex compr ...
, the
Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery
, image= File:C2G2.jpg
, established=
, location= Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
, visitors = 20,000
, director= Denis Longchamps
, map_type = Canada Ontario
, map_caption = Location of the gallery in Waterloo
...
, and the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan. She has also exhibited at the Gallery 1.1.1 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
In 2007 she co-authored a book with Amy Gogarty and Mireille Perron titled ''Utopic Impulses: Contemporary Ceramics Practice'', published by the Ronsdale Press, which includes ten essays on ceramics as a socially responsible practice.