Introducing betterArts Resident Ruby Amanze

"I want to make art and live in peace... even if it is just for a short amount of time," Ruby Amanze wrote in her letter of intent to betterArts. "As many artists who work full-time jobs (non-studio employment) will testify, studio time is 'in-between' time. After work, on the weekends, whenever I can make the time to work on a drawing. Those who are passionate, will make the work no matter what."

For the next week, Ruby will be living, breathing, and working on her art right here at Better Farm as the latest artist-in-resident to pay us a visit.

Ruby, who serves as directory of education at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in Brooklyn, N.Y., holds a bachelors of fine art (Summa Cum Laude, no less) from the Tyler School of Art, a masters of fine art from Cranbrook Academy, and has been featured in more than a dozen juried and group exhibitions since 2004. She's been a teaching artist at the Fabric Workshop and Museum Education and Department in Philadelphia, Penn., a lecturer of photography at Ursinus College, and a lecturer of design at the Drexel University's Department of Art and Art History.

"Being in a quiet environment surrounded by nature would be a welcomed change to my Brooklyn, N.Y., daily routine," she told us. "I'm a very simple girl and I believe in, and aspire to, a simple and clean life. My father grew up in a village in Imo State, Nigeria. Learning to farm and cultivate the earth had been, and is, the way of life for generations before and after him. Likewise, my mother grew up on the coast in Port-Harcourt, Nigeria, a major fishing port. Many aspects of their upbringing have been instilled in me and I have since taken an interest in finding ways to live a more ecologically friendly life from the food I eat, the types of businesses I support, and the products I use in my house and on my person. Better Farm sounds like the perfect combination of space to step back for a minute and dedicate myself to making art and living in a healthy environment amongst like-minded individuals."

In her time here, we're going to have Ruby working on the grounds, in the greenhouse and gardens, and involved in daily "family dinner" parties. Stay tuned for pics of her progress here! 

See more images of her work after the jump!

 

 

For more information about betterArts' residency program, click here. To learn more about Ruby and her work, click here.