Ellen Rutt (b Detroit, MI 1989) is a queer Detroit-based painter, quilter and social practice artist. Through the intersecting disciplines of her practice, she investigates the complex relationships between place, process, material and movement to create active and embodied images, objects, and experiences.
As a multidisciplinary artist, her work is rooted in the core belief that art enables discovery and transformation and can be a pathway toward more equitable, regenerative communal futures. Driven by her commitment to community and place-making, Rutt has over 10 years of experience in public art and have exhibited work with the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, Albright Knox Museum, Library Street Collective, The Urban Institute of Contemporary Art Grand Rapids, East Hawaii Museum of Contemporary Art, and has completed murals and installations around the world in France, New York, San Francisco, Canada, and Hawaii among others.
“This Must Be The Place,” Rutt’s solo exhibition, opens to the public on July 20, 2019, during Detroit Art Week. Featuring a series of “place paintings,” the exhibition calls attention to the interconnectivity of earth’s complex systems through works made by tracing elements and textures from the physical environment, examining the relationship between modern society and the natural world, and reflecting the urgency for climate action through a process-driven approach.
