Donnamaria Bruton

 

 Donnamaria Bruton (1954 - 2012) was a painter and faculty member at the Rhode Island School of Design, known for her mixed media paintings and collages.
Bruton's style, described by The Providence Journal as "a loose free-flowing style.... but with a strong realistic streak," makes use of her drawing, painting and collage skills.Many of her collages employ mundane objects as the key to getting at a deeper memory or concept.Her first solo exhibit was in 1993 in Austin, Texas, and was well-received.
"Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Donnamaria Bruton grew up in Detroit, and graduated from Michigan State University in 1976 where she earned her BFA in Graphic Design.  After graduation, Bruton continued her art career by studying art with her uncle, painter Edward Loper, Sr.  in Wilmington, Delaware.  During this time,  Bruton often visited the collection of art in the famous Barnes Foundation to study the collection.  Founded by Albert C. Barnes in 1922, the collection holds some of the most seminal works by Matisse, Cézanne, Renoir and Modigliani as well as important examples of African sculpture.  Bruton's entree to the Barnes resulted in a lifelong reverence for the work of Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse and are among Bruton's greatest influences along with abstract painter Cy Twombly.
In 1993, she joined the Painting Department as Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design.  Donnamaria Bruton's work has been included in numerous one-person and group exhibitions throughout the United States, including an early solo exhibition at Woman and Their Work, Austin, Texas as well as exhibiting abroad in Canada, Japan, France and Korean Biennial.  Donnamaria Bruton's work is in the permanent collection of the Black Studies Gallery, University of Texas, Austin, Newport Art Museum, RISD Museum, Yale University Art Gallery and many private collections."(cadetompkinsprojects.com)

 

Craig Ruddy - Australian Contemporary Art

 

 Craig Ruddy (1968 –2022) was an Australian artist, known for winning the Archibald Prize in 2004 with his portrait of Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil. Ruddy died of complications related to COVID-19 on 4 January 2022, at the age of 53
"Craig Ruddy is an award winning contemporary artist who lives and works in The Pocket in Northern NSW Australia.
Craig Ruddy is renowned for his dramatic figurative portraits that are often interwoven into richly textured abstract landscapes. Ruddy’s art practice explores the space between our real and mythical connections to the land and environment. His work reflects a deeply personal ongoing spiritual journey, where the artist explores questions of social conscience as well as current environmental issues. The recognition of Australian Indigenous People and Culture is also a core theme that has permeated the narrative of his past work and exhibitions.Craig Ruddy’s inimitable painting style pushes the traditional boundaries of this classic medium. His work process involves a complex layering of mixed mediums that include paint, charcoal, pencil drawing, varnish and even glass. Ruddy’s figures become inseparable from the landscapes in which they reside. His unique use of layering creates an illusion of transparency, whereby the foreground and background seem to both simultaneously co-exist and disappear, becoming one and the same. The illusory technique mirrors a deeper spiritual metaphor; the interconnectedness of all things.The artist’s work is a continuing tribute to his surroundings, country and the people that reside within it. Ruddy’s practice is intuitive and organic. His use of free flowing sensitive lines combined with a vibrant, dynamic colour palatte result in bold paintings that are both sensual and powerful, aptly reflecting the inspiration he draws from the Australian landscape."(craigruddy.com)

 

Stu Sutcliffe - Abstract Painting

 

 Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe ( 1940 – 1962), known as Stu Sutcliffe, was a Scottish painter and musician better known as the original bass guitarist of the English rock band the Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue his career as a painter, having previously attended the Liverpool College of Art. Sutcliffe and John Lennon are credited with inventing the name "Beetles", as they both liked Buddy Holly's band, the Crickets. They also had a fascination of group names with double meanings (as Crickets, for example, the word refers to both an insect as well as a sport), so John then came up with "The Beatles", from the word beat (though John's original spelling of the pun was "Beatals"). As a member of the group when it was a five-piece band, Sutcliffe is one of several people sometimes referred to as the "Fifth Beatle".When he performed with the Beatles in Hamburg, he met photographer Astrid Kirchherr, to whom he was later engaged. After leaving the Beatles, he enrolled in the Hamburg College of Art, studying under future pop artist Eduardo Paolozzi, who later wrote a report stating that Sutcliffe was one of his best students.Sutcliffe earned other praise for his paintings, which mostly explored a style related to abstract expressionism.
While studying in Germany, Sutcliffe began suffering from intense headaches and experiencing acute light sensitivity. In February 1962, he collapsed in the middle of an art class after complaining of head pains. German doctors performed tests, but were unable to determine the exact cause of his headaches. After collapsing again on 10 April 1962, he was taken to the hospital, but died in the ambulance on the way there. The cause of death was later found to have been a brain haemorrhage – severe bleeding in the right ventricle of his brain. Wikipedia