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Exhibit: Donna Ruff, Terra Incognita
June 19, 2023 - August 31, 2023
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The Deering Estate is proud to present Terra Incognita, a solo exhibition by Miami-based artist Donna Ruff. Terra Incognita Exhibit is on display daily, June 19 – Aug. 31.
Donna was an artist-in-resident at Deering Estate from 2019-2021, where she spent her residency researching the relationship between Charles Deering and botanist John Kunkel Small who explored the wildes of South Florida in the 1920s. This exhibition will include a series of large silkscreens based on Small’s own photographs of specimens taken on and around the Deering Estate grounds. These large silkscreens are made on handmade Bhutanese bark paper, known for being sustainable and raw siena-like coloring. The exhibition will also feature smaller, more intimate prints on board made from the same paper.
Ruff also visited the New York Botancial Garden where she conducted further research into Small’s time in Florida, including his expeditions with artist Mary Eaton who produced twenty-eight watercolors of rare flowering plants during her time with Small and his family. These illustrations are included in a series of handmade books created by Ruff for the exhibition. The books celebrate the artistry of early botanical drawings as both a documentary tool and an artform.
The title of the exhibition, Terra Incognita comes from the cartographic term to refer to unexplored lands. In organizing his early observations of the South Florida landscape, Small once referred to Florida as terra incognita. Small’s book From Eden to Sahara: Florida’s Tragedy (1929), helped stimulate conservation efforts in South Florida to protect endangered lands that eventually brought about the creation of Everglades National Park in 1947. Ruff’s recontextualization of Small’s vision are meant to demonstate that the wildness of the South Florida landscape can still be found in small pockets of the city. The works remind us of the fragility and rarity of these once abundant tropical environments that both Small and Deering were so keen to protect and preserve.
Terra Incognita is funded in part by The Ellies, Miami’s visual arts awards, presented by Oolite Arts.
Donna Ruff is an American visual artist, curator and educator currently living and working in Miami, Florida. She works in mixed media on found printed matter, primarily newspaper headline pages and historical documents. Ruff questions how written and photographic narratives are constructed by removing and transforming printed text and image to recontextualize the portrayal of world events. Ruff earned an MA in Art History from Florida State University and worked as a graphic designer and book illustrator in Miami and later in New York City. She earned an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts. During her graduate studies Ruff was introduced to printmaking and papermaking at the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper and began incorporating these techniques into her art discipline. Ruff’s work has been exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), The Print Center (Philadelphia, PA); New Mexico Museum of Art (Santa Fe, NM), Patricia and Philip Frost Art Museum (Miami, FL), Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum (Mesa, AZ), Center for Book Arts (NYC), Mass MOCA, Sol Lewitt Exchange (North Adams, MA), John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI), A.I.R. Gallery, New York, (NYC) and ArtSPACE New Haven (New Haven, CT). Ruff has worked as an artist in residence at PS 122 (NYC), Tamarind Institute (Albuquerque, NM), Künstlerhaus Bethanien, (Berlin, Germany), Deering Estate (Miami, FL) and Santa Fe Art Institute (Santa Fe, NM)
COST: Included with General Admission, $15 for adults (ages 15+) and $7 for children (ages 4-14). Admission is free for Deering Estate Foundation Members and children under 4 years old. Non-Members can choose their date of visit / purchase General Admission tickets HERE (choose date between June 19 – Aug. 31). Members do not need to reserve to view exhibit; please show your membership card & matching ID at the Ticket Booth on the day of your visit, 10am-4pm. Become a Member today!
Questions? Contact Us
An Exhibit Opening reception for this exhibit will be held on June 25; tickets and info for the Opening Reception can be found here.
An Artist Talk for this exhibit will be held on August 27; tickets and info for the Artist Talk can be found here.
Cultural Arts Programming at the Deering Estate is made possible with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, and The Deering Estate Foundation, Inc