Ginny Ruffner

American (born 1952)

Ginny Ruffner (1952-2025) was a Seattle-based glass artist. She is known for her use of lampworked glass which is made by rolling and twirling glass on a rod to make the desired shape.

Born in Atlanta, Ruffner earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (1974) and a Master of Fine Arts degree (1975) in painting from the University of Georgia. By the mid 1980s, Ruffner was living in Seattle, teaching at Pilchuck Glass School (in Stanwood, Northwestern Washington), and part of the studio glass movement. Her artworks are in many collections, including the Corning Museum of Glass in New York State and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Ruffner founded the SOLA (Support Old Lady Artists) Awards in 2016, given annually to Washington State female-identified visual artists, age sixty or over, who have dedicated twenty-five years or more to creating art. In 2019, she had a solo exhibition "Reforestation of the Imagination" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. In 2023, Ruffner was honored with a Washington State Governor's Arts and Heritage Award. She is also the subject of an award-winning documentary "A Not So Still Life, the Ginny Ruffner Story" (2010).