Affection and whimsy are the two adjectives that first come to mind when meeting Ruth Lozner and learning about her art. Lozner gave an artist talk at Montgomery College Rockville on October 28th and shared with the audience her path, inspirations, and some of her recent artwork. The event was hosted by the Montgomery College Student Art League.  

 

Lozner received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon and an MFA from American University.  She has taught at Parsons, New York, the University of the Arts, and at the University of Maryland, College Park where she currently holds the title of Professor Emerita. Since retiring she has been able to explore other forms of art. “Before, I was identified as a graphic artist. Now I have the freedom to explore whatever medium excites me.” 

 

While narrative has always been at the center of her artistic work, storytelling through sculpture is her current passion. An unabashed collector, she draws inspiration from the nostalgia, personal history or intrinsic beauty of the objects she finds and combines them in unexpected ways to tell her own story. “I love constructing, but I don’t necessary have the skill to create everything I want. So working with found objects is ideal. Objects have such personality. I think about what the objects do or their connection to the past to start the creation process. I love telling a story, particularly one that isn’t a hundred percent clear. I think it is fun [for the viewer] to puzzle out the relationship of objects and their meaning,” she explained.  

 

Her piece Love’s Labor Lost captures her emotions following her only son’s departure to college. An antique looking baby carriage holds an empty bird cage and wooden crate filled with eggs of various sizes. Atop the crate, a solitary egg freed of it shell lies raw next to a gardening spade. A few downy feathers are strewn nearby, ripped out in the rush to leave. 

 

Other pieces are inspired from the materials themselves. “Some objects are redolent in meaning. Others have a shape or form that I find interesting and ideas for what they could be just come to me. But really even the most banal object can have meaning, some emotional tug. I In terms of materials, I am particularly fond of wood, and I try to retain the quality of the wood and craftsmanship in my final work.” 

 

In The Odd Courtship, Lozner made barely any changes to the two nested wooden chairs that make up the piece. The story, the joke, comes in their pairing. The bottom chair plain and sturdy, work-a-day. The second perched in the lap of the first is intricately carved with decorative woodworking on the legs and shoulders. You can almost hear the giggle at the stunned man’s expression.  “To me, art should be fun and I have such fun constructing pieces likes these.”