Ruth Kapcia

Ruth Kapcia is a painter, visual merchandiser, retail designer, and marketing professional originally from Michigan and now calls Washington home. Ruth studied at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, and during the pandemic, set out to create a new body of work and started pursuing gallery representation and local art shows. Her oil pastels and paintings explore “landscapes” or spatial relationships and are often inspired by nature, her travels, the PNW, and/or her vivid imagination. The work of the Impressionists and Abstract Expressionists resonates strongly with Ruth. Frequent visits to art museums and galleries throughout her life inspired her admiration for art from a young age. Also, they inspired her love of thick paint application and layering - creating visual interest up close and from far away. Her paintings also explore the relationships between color, texture, and motion using different techniques. Her oil pastels used to start with smooth, large strokes and flat textures, but over the years, they’ve progressively evolved into imagery with more complex layering of color and texture for a more 3D effect. Ruth’s recent work explores expansive brush strokes and color palettes, exploring how these elements work together (or against each other) to create energy and produce distinctive imagery. Ruth’s work targets engagement with the viewer. It guides an exploration of their interpretations, helping the audience connect more personally with the piece rather than the artist dictating a specific viewpoint. While some of Ruth’s imagery might be self-explanatory, others are left to the interpretation and imagination of the witness.