Ruth Secunda and the Art of Mixed-Media Storytelling
Interviewed by Ricarda McFalls
Among the many artists featured over the years at the Ottawa Little Theatre’s Spotlight Gallery, Ruth Secunda truly embodies one of the most expansive definitions of a mixed-media artist. Active in the Ottawa arts scene since 1973 as both practitioner and teacher, Ruth has worked as a writer, performance artist, weaver, sculptor, photographer, printmaker and painter. She uses a visual language that includes imagery and symbols to explore and understand history, ideas, and nature. Her current exhibit displays recent works that capture these elements along with her own artistic journey by combining physical elements from across her long career into visual storytelling.
I recently caught up with Ruth to learn more about her life in the arts and her current exhibit at OLT:
Tell us about your background in Ottawa? Are you from here or what brought you to Ottawa?
As the child of an army officer, we moved around quite a bit in the early years, finally settling in Ottawa with my father’s last posting when I was eleven. I finished high school here and went on to Carleton University for a year but dropped out to join my husband at a Kibbutz in Israel. It was there that I learned a new art form working with fibre that was just taking off – Macrame. Little did I know then that this new skill would become the first big step of my life in the Arts.
What has been your artistic journey? Did you study the arts? Has this been your full-time profession?
My art life in Ottawa began upon return from Israel. I had refined my macrame skills and became known as a fibre artist, weaving and knotting large sculptural pieces. I was part of a co-operative craft shop, one of the first in Canada, known by its street address at the time: First it was known as “54½ George Street” and then “85 Clarence” in the Byward Market. My first real exhibition was in 1974 at SAW Gallery (SAW originally stands for Sussex Annex Works) when it was still on Sussex Street above the then-famous Le Hibou Coffee House (1960 to 1975, hosting many of Canada’s most renowned folk singers). That was the beginning of what would become my full-time career, which would later take me to Montreal (1981-1986) and Banff (1986 to 2002) and back to Ottawa.
What or who has been an inspiration for your work? What media and techniques are most compelling for you?
I am inspired by nature, my environment, my family, my history, my heritage. I love to express myself with paint; watercolour and acrylic, printmaking, pastels. I put it all together. I consider myself a mixed media artist.
What will you be showing during this month’s exhibit?
I have a long and deep history: I have been a weaver, a painter, a printmaker, a writer, a teacher. I have written stories and monologues, plays and performance pieces that all have an autobiographical point of view. And that’s what this exhibition is about; my stories. I recycle and reuse my ideas and philosophies and put them in my work. I use older paintings and prints and photos. I cut and snip and reconstruct the images to become new and unique collages.
This collection covers a few years of work. Most of the work is from used or failed paintings that are recycled to make a new image. I can see the history of my art journey through this collection.
Which piece is your favorite and why?
Each one has a favourite aspect to it. But I do like the large square canvases called, “The Journey” and “Home Is”. They really tell my story best and they remind me of places I have been. While nature was central to my life especially during the 16 years in Banff, I increasingly enjoy the architectural pieces too – These pieces include the urban streetscapes that surround me here in Ottawa and have earned an important place in my history, just as the Mountains of the Rockies did in Banff.
How did you first get connected to the OLT?
My history with Ottawa Little Theatre extends back over half a Century: Imagine – I took a drama class at the OLT before the fire (Historical note: the Ottawa Little Theatre burned to the ground in 1970). Over the years, I continued to take acting and improv classes with actors from OLT and have been an OLT subscriber for more than two decades. I first met Venetia Lawless while volunteering as a dresser for Dangerous Liaisons and later learned through her about the opportunity to exhibit my work.
My experiences at OLT have been a lifelong inspiration. Even now, I apply my love of theatre to teaching an improv class for seniors as a volunteer at the Good Companion’s Centre.