Abstract 1 — Ruth Oron

Rising & Falling Columns (1.1)

Working on this sculpture, I experienced the wonderful sensation that weight and the burden of matter can also soar.

H: 15", W: 15.5", D: 10"

2014

Rising & Falling Columns (1.2)

H: 15", W: 15.5", D: 10"

2014

Rising & Falling Columns (1.3)

H: 15", W: 15.5", D: 10"

2014

Extruded Composition with Flowers (102.1)

In this work I began with hexagonal-shaped extruded pieces. I then took some of the colored clay to create delicate groups of flowers, feeling that these organic shapes would bring softness and warmth to the cooler horizontal and vertical lines.

H: 12.5", W: 16", D: 12"

2014

Extruded Composition with Flowers (102.2)

H: 12.5", W: 16", D: 12"

2014

Extruded Composition with Flowers (102.3)

H: 12.5", W: 16", D: 12"

2014

Rising Triangle (2.1)

My hope in "Rising Triangle," with its black clay and golden glaze, was to show weight as graceful and free.

H: 12", W: 16", D: 11"

2013

Rising Triangle (2.2)

H: 12", W: 16", D: 11"

2013

Rising Triangle (2.3)

H: 12", W: 16", D: 11"

2013

Twisted Bronze Composition (37.1)

H: 9.5", W: 15", D: 10.5"

2014

Twisted Bronze Composition (37.2)

H: 9.5", W: 15", D: 10.5"

2014

Twisted Bronze Composition (37.3)

H: 9.5", W: 15", D: 10.5"

2014

Composition in Blue, Green, White & Brown (3.1)

Working with an extruder, I composed this colored clay sculpture. I think I was trying to answer a deep and kind question I was asked early in my study of Aesthetic Realism: "Are you hoping to be free and orderly at once?" My answer is "Yes!"

H: 7.5", W: 5", D: 6"

2014

Composition in Blue, Green, White & Brown (3.2)

H: 7.5", W: 5", D: 6"

2014

Composition in Blue, Green, White & Brown (3.3)

H: 7.5", W: 5", D: 6"

2014

Green, Black & White Composition (10.1)

This porcelain sculpture began as an elaborate large tray that cracked beyond repair! I was all ready to discard it when I thought of a new possibility. Using its broken pieces, I transformed it into an exuberant form, adding a calm, green peak. I was happily self-critical of my desire to give up and limit the possibilities of reality and art!

H: 10.5", W: 13", D: 9.5"

2013

Green, Black & White Composition (10.2)

H: 10.5", W: 13", D: 9.5"

2013

Green, Black & White Composition (10.3)

H: 10.5", W: 13", D: 9.5"

2013

Form in Brown & White, I (4.1)

In mixing different colored clays and trying to give form to what began as formless, by pushing and pulling, I was hoping to feel close to the beginning of things, of earth itself.

H: 7.5", W: 15.5", D: 7.5"

2012

Form in Brown & White, I (4.2)

H: 7.5", W: 15.5", D: 7.5"

2012

Form in Brown & White, I (4.3)

H: 7.5", W: 15.5", D: 7.5"

2012

Form in Brown & White, II (5.1)

In his great poem “Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana” that won the Nation’s esteemed poetry prize in 1925, Eli Siegel has this line:

“The world is waiting to be known; Earth, what it has in it! The past is in it;”

H: 8.5", W: 12.5", D: 6"

2012

Form in Brown & White, II (5.2)

H: 8.5", W: 12.5", D: 6"

2012

Form in Brown & White, II (5.3)

H: 8.5", W: 12.5", D: 6"

2012

Peaks in Gold (6.1)

In this small sculpture, I was dealing with heights and depths, peaks and crevices. Every person has something like those aspects in themselves, as I do. I glazed the work in gold to enhance both its richness and mystery.

H: 8.5", W: 10", D: 4.5"

2012

Peaks in Gold (6.2)

H: 8.5", W: 10", D: 4.5"

2012

Peaks in Gold (6.3)

H: 8.5", W: 10", D: 4.5"

2012

Rusted "Metal" Curls (7.1)

Using dark clay and reconstructed clay, I was trying to get to a rusted metallic quality, while also giving it a certain softness through curly shapes.

H: 6.25", W: 13.5", D: 9"

2014

Rusted "Metal" Curls (7.2)

H: 6.25", W: 13.5", D: 9"

2014

Rusted "Metal" Curls (7.3)

H: 6.25", W: 13.5", D: 9"

2014

Blue Curls (8.1)

While this work has a certain congested quality, the blue curly ribbons curve out and rise in a playful manner.

H: 6", W: 10", D: 8.5"

2011

Blue Curls (8.2)

H: 6", W: 10", D: 8.5"

2011

Blue Curls (8.3)

H: 6", W: 10", D: 8.5"

2011

Underwater Flower (9.1)

Composed of leftover pieces, this work is an instance of oneness and manyness. I'm glad that Aesthetic Realism shows that art can teach us how to relate the different aspects of our lives so that we feel we are an integrity.

H: 7.5", W: 15.5", D: 13.5"

2014

Underwater Flower (9.2)

H: 7.5", W: 15.5", D: 13.5"

2014

Underwater Flower (9.3)

H: 7.5", W: 15.5", D: 13.5"

2014

Peaks in Turquoise (11.1)

In "Peaks in Turquoise" I was dealing with high and low, which are also two aspects of human emotions. I learned from Aesthetic Realism the reason people often swing painfully between exaltation and dejection is that we judge the world not on what it is, but whether we get our way or not. Here, a lovely turquoise glaze does what we need to do: relate our peaks and our rock bottoms.

H: 11", W: 19", D: 10"

2012

Peaks in Turquoise (11.2)

H: 11", W: 19", D: 10"

2012

Peaks in Turquoise (11.3)

H: 11", W: 19", D: 10"

2012

Wood-like Composition (13.1)

In this composition, vertical and horizontal, straight lines and curves, volumes and hollows are friendly to each other. Once in an Aesthetic Realism consultation, I was asked: "Do you want to see where every possibility of the world is in you already?" To my surprise, I learned that I am a relation of vertical-my self alone, and horizontal-my self in relation; and like art, I-like all people am trying to put these two aspects in my life together.

H: 16", W: 13", D: 9.5"

2013

Wood-like Composition (13.2)

H: 16", W: 13", D: 9.5"

2013

Wood-like Composition (13.3)

H: 16", W: 13", D: 9.5"

2013

Standing Tall (82.1)

"Standing Tall" is an attempt to join aspects in us that very often fight: seriousness and playfulness. Here I have joined the sobriety of dark brown clay with a jaunty off-kilter white square; the sharpness of the rising spear is counteracted by the circularity of the striped ribbon near the base.

H: 15.5", W: 6", D:3.25"

2013

Standing Tall (82.2)

H: 15.5", W: 6", D:3.25"

2013

Playful Shape with Red Ball (21.1)

As I worked on this sculpture, I was thinking about someone close to me who liked snakes. In an Aesthetic Realism consultation, I was asked: "Can a snake represent continuity?...Does this person feel his life is too jumpy? Have you felt that the Ruth Oron of eighteen makes sense to the Ruth Oron of now?" The feeling that life is disjointed can be painful. Here, I was trying to put together continuity and discontinuity by giving this uninterrupted line playful curves and a red ball at its tip

H: 8", W: 7.5", D: 5"

2013

Playful Shape with Red Ball (21.2)

H: 8", W: 7.5", D: 5"

2013

Playful Shape with Red Ball (21.3)

H: 8", W: 7.5", D: 5"

2013

Inspiration in Clay (152.1)

Here I made a “sandwich” with layered stripes of different color clay which accent order. My desire for freedom had to be satisfied too so I formed irregular pieces and joined them in such a way that the striped lines go this way and that.

In an Aesthetic Realism consultation, I was asked: "Do you think you make freedom and order fight in your life? If you welcomed more structure, would you feel you were giving up your personality?" At the time I did!

I see this work as an inspiration to me to see that freedom and order can be friendly.

H: 11", W: 18", D: 11"

2015