Ruth Tabancay

Artist Statement:

My recent work centers around several different concepts. For Twice the Size of Texas, I examine the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a, slowly, clockwise-swirling area of plastic “confetti” in the North Pacific Gyre. Rather than discrete, recognizable throwaways, plastic garbage has been broken down by mechanical forces and photo-degradation into tiny suspended pieces.

In What Linens Know I consider household domestic textiles from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Women embroidered tablecloths, napkins, runners, coasters, handkerchiefs, and more with images endearing to them–flowers, birds, baby animals, toys, etc. I embroider vintage linens with imagery that speaks to their actual usage. With these marks I give the cloths a true history and validate their existence.

In my tea bag bed and blanket works, I consider concepts of warmth and intimacy, explore the symmetry of the hexagon grid, and use tea bags as organic forms.

Ruth Tabancay holds degrees from University of California, Berkeley; University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco; California College of Arts and Crafts; and Certicate in Fiber Arts from the University of Washington, Seattle. Her work was chosen for “Fiberart International 2010” at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; “Green: A Color and a Cause” at The Textile Museum in Washington, D. C.; “Materials: Hard & Soft” in at Greater Denton Arts Council, Denton, Texas (Juror’s Award); and "Latitude" at Convergence 2012, Conference of the Handweavers Guild of America (First Place). Her numerous group exhibitions in the San Francisco Bay Area include “Proof,” at Southern Exposure in San Francisco, “Scrap” at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, “By the Hand” at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, “SmartArt Trash into Treasure” at Lincart Gallery in San Francisco, and Civic Art Exhibition at Berkeley City Hall. Her work is in the collection of the Oakland Museum of California. She lives in Berkeley and is a member of the Oakland gallery Mercury 20.