Artwork copyright Ruth Brockmann. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Old Growth, 2000

Ruth Brockmann
American (born 1955, died 2013)

Location: Enumclaw High School, Enumclaw

About the Artwork

Old Growth is a glass mask created by artist Ruth Brockmann. It is part of a series of masks that celebrate the interconnection between all living forms. She was inspired to create this piece after hiking through an old growth forest, filled with countless species of plants and animals. The artist noted, "The quantity of life in our Pacific rain forests is overwhelming. Things grow everywhere: on branches hundreds of feet high that reach toward the stars; out of rotting stumps that remind me of how magical the cycle of life is; that rotting stump: the roots of our ancestry, supplying fuel, nurturing seedlings of new growth. That little seedling is who I am. That little seedling is who you are."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Enumclaw School District.

About the Artist

Ruth Brockman was one of the initial artists in the 1980s to work and experiment with Bullseye Glass Company's colored glass for fusing. She has taught glass fusing at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Northwestern Washington, as well as around the United States and Canada. Her experimental, do-it-yourself art practice is heavily influenced by her experiences farming in Alaska and Washington, working on commercial fishing boats, traveling in Mexico, and Mother Nature.