Ruth Hunter b. 1965

From early childhood, Ruth Hunter understood mark making as her first and most essential language—an intuitive means of expression developed in an environment of forced deprivation. Through these marks, her story unfolds. If mark making is the language, then color is the voice—tonal, visceral, and deeply entwined with sense memory. Her process is tactile, instinctive, and at times alchemical.

Hunter’s paintings, created with oils and cold wax, emerge from an emotional impulse rather than a concrete plan. Her work is deeply intuitive—each piece begins with a gesture or a color that resonates, much like a listener reacting in conversation. The painting evolves as she builds and breaks down layers, letting narrative and imagery surface organically. Figurative in nature, her compositions invite emotional and spiritual contemplation, prompting viewers to access their own internal landscapes through the language of memory and sensation.

“I never begin with a specific idea in mind,” she explains. “I react to color emotionally, and the stories change as I work. It’s very much a conversation with myself.”

Ruth Hunter is a Portland-based painter whose practice in oils and cold wax explores themes of memory, transformation, and intuitive storytelling. Raised in rural East Texas, Hunter spent much of her early life immersed in nature—a solitary child forming a tactile relationship with the land and its elements. That early experience is foundational to her work. “No one ever took a photograph of it,” she recalls, “but if you can imagine a barefoot child in 1968, covered in black prairie clay beneath an East Texas sky—that would be me.” That deep physical connection to earth and material has never left her; it continues to inform her process, where she still ends her studio days with paint on her hands.

By her mid-twenties, Hunter was making her living as an artist, traveling to juried shows and invitational exhibitions along the eastern seaboard, eventually settling in Savannah, Georgia. There, she found gallery representation and spent over two decades developing the mature style she is known for today.

Her artistic journey took a dramatic turn in 2017 when she was displaced by Hurricane Maria. Seeking refuge from climate upheaval, she relocated to Portland, Oregon, where she continues her work with renewed purpose. Her paintings remain a quiet but potent invitation—to pause, to remember, and to feel.