Ruth G. Waddy

Ruth G. Waddy (January 7, 1909 – May 24, 2003) was an American artist, printmaker, activist, and editor, based in Los Angeles. Early life and education Willanna Ruth Gilliam was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1909, and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, daughter of John Moses Gilliam and Willie Anna Choran Gilliam. She lived near the Minneapolis Museum of Art, which was her first introduction to the art world. Her father worked as a waiter on the railroads; he died when Ruth was thirteen years old. She attended the University of Minnesota to train for teaching, but left school to work as a domestic servant in Chicago, to help support her family during the Depression. During World War II she moved with her young daughter to Los Angeles, California to work as a riveter at Douglas Aircraft Corporation. After the war she worked at a county hospital, where one of her co-workers was designer Noah Purifoy. While working as a clerk for Los Angeles County, Waddy was diagnosed with epilepsy. This prompted her to retire early. However, she realized she would now have time to accomplish many of the things she had hoped to someday do. One of those things was the intent to learn art. Career Waddy was in her fifties when she turned to a career in art, especially as a linocut printmaker. In 1962, Waddy founded Art West Associated, to gather and support the community of African-American artists in Los Angeles. The association sponsored community and youth activities that raised awareness for black art in the area and advocated for black artists who could not get their recognized by mainstream museums. Some notable participants included Raymond Lark, Samella Lewis, John Riddle, and Alonzo Davis. Waddy studied briefly at Otis Art Institute, now called Otis College of Art and Design in 1965, and the following year traveled to the Soviet Union for an exhibit of African-American art, organized by a Chicago friend, Margaret Burroughs. Also in 1966, her work was part of "The Negro in American Art," a traveling exhibition funded by the California Arts Commission. Ruth G Waddy was known for her primary in linocut printmaking. For the most part, Waddy is known for creating very highly contrasting flooring prints that tended to contain stories about Black presence. In one of her most well-known works The Key, Waddy outlined her artwork with dark geometrical structures and used supplies like newspapers and magazines to scrap.