Ruthadell Anderson ( Isham, January 21, 1922 – March 8, 2018) was an American

fiber artist Fiber art (fibre art in British spelling) refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labor on the part of the artist as ...

. She was known for her sculptures and textiles.

Biography

Ruthadell Adell Isham was born on January 21 1922 in San Jose, California. Her first weaving lesson was while she was in high school. She attended San Jose State College (now

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

), where she earned a B.A. degree in 1943. She earned a M.F.A. degree in 1964 from the

University of Hawaiʻi The University of Hawaiʻi System, formally the University of Hawaiʻi and popularly known as UH, is a public college and university system that confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven com ...

Her work is included in the permanent collection of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

. Anderson created textile screens for the Robert Thurston Memorial Chapel at

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, 12th grade. Protestant missionar ...

, a building designed and built in 1966 by architect

Vladimir Ossipoff Vladimir ‘Val’ Nicholas Ossipoff (russian: Владимир Николаевич Осипов; November 25, 1907 – October 1, 1998) was an American architect best known for his works in the state of Hawai'i. Biography Early life and s ...

. Two of her tapestries are installed in the

Hawaii State House The Hawaii House of Representatives is the lower house of the Hawaii State Legislature. Pursuant to Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution of Hawaii, amended during the 1978 constitutional convention, the House of Representatives consists ...

: one in the chamber of the Hawaii House of Representatives, and the other in the chamber of the

Hawaii Senate The Hawaii Senate is the upper house of the Hawaii State Legislature. It consists of twenty-five members elected from an equal number of constituent districts across the islands and is led by the President of the Senate, elected from the membe ...

. Each of the tapestries is forty feet tall, and required the work of 16 weavers over three years. She died in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

on March 8, 2018, at the age of 96.

References

1922 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists 20th-century women textile artists 20th-century American textile artists 21st-century women textile artists 21st-century American textile artists Artists from San Jose, California Artists in the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection San Jose State University alumni University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni Textile artists from California Textile artists from Hawaii {{US-artist-stub