RUTH DROPPO

Post Office Box 5211 Bloomington IN 47407
Phone: 812-855-0154 (office) fax: 812-855-7961 cell: 812-320-0539
email: rdroppo@indiana.edu
website: http://mypage.iu.edu/~rdroppo

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Often my work is in response to strong emotion, so the earlier pieces on my website are from an installation entitled, "grooming behavior" about the sequence and consequences of incest. This call-and-response approach led to explorations of stories, particularly from people who had survived ragged times and spaces. Within the metaphor of 'making' I use pinhole, digital, and traditional photography, video, voice, and music to help weave a body of work that tells a larger story about transformation and transcendence in the human experience.

If I lost my home, my family, my country, and if I found that I was still alive, what would I take with me, and what would be left behind?

My process is a time-intensive approach, open to opportunities for serendipity and change as I listen to the rise and fall of voices and watch gestures emerge. I like to look in between spaces to see what sort of invisible information is contained in the telling.

EDUCATION

2001-2005: MFA Printmaking, Indiana University Hope School of Fine Arts
1994-2001: BFA Printmaking, Indiana University Hope School of Fine Arts
1976-1977: University of the Philippines
1975-1976: University of Arizona
1973-1975: Sacramento City College
1972-1973: Kansas State University/University of Kansas
1966-1967: University of Arizona

GRANTS/AWARDS

2007: Brabson Library and Education Foundation, The Artist Partnership, Sudanese Rebaba Project
2006: Indiana Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant, Cities of Refuge Instrument with Michael Pac, Peter Suchecki, Lauri Twitchell
2003-05: Grant-In-Aid of Research Award, Indiana University Graduate School
2003: IDEAS Festival, Indiana University, Best Digital Narrative for "birthright,"
2001-2002: Graduate Fellowship, Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts/Friends of Art, Indiana University Graduate School
2000: Area Award for Printmaking, School of Fine Arts, Indiana University
2000: IU Research and the University Graduate School, Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Grant entitled, "Pinhole Photography from Small- to Large-Scale."

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

MFA Printmaking Archives, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS/PUBLICATIONS

2007: Indianapolis Episcopal Diocesan Convention, print suite for Sudanese performance
2006:  Photographer’s Forum Magazine Best of College Photography Annual 2006, Honorable Mention, Britty, archival pigment print.
2006: The Intersection of Science and Art at Lupin Mine: The Poetics of Place. Collaboration with Peter Suchecki, Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon), Washington DC. Video.
2006: Powerful Impressions, la Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Palazzetto Tito, Venice Italy,
 “family weave”, pinhole archival pigment print with text.
2005: FINE WINE MORTAR, Matrix Publication, "berimbau", archival pigment print
2005: MFA 2005, Indiana University MFA Graduates, "Daniel Kuch Kuol", archival pigment print and "family weave", pinhole archival pigment print with text.
2005:  La Biennale de Venezia 51st International Exhibition, Powerful Impressions, “family weave”, pinhole archival pigment print with text
2005:  MFA Thesis Show “Cities of Refuge”; pinhole archival pigment prints, text, performance by Grupo de Capoeira Angola Estrela do Norte; audience interaction with Sudanese refugees (Lost Boys).
2005:  Southern Graphics Council Conference, Italian Embassy, Washington DC, Powerful Impressions: Stampe Italiane e Americane, “family weave”, pinhole archival pigment print with text
2005: MFA Printmakers, SOFA Gallery, Indiana University, “Daniel Kuch Kuol” archival pigment print, and one excerpt from “family weave”, pinhole archival pigment print
2004: LIQUT collaborative video/fiber piece, "cemetary" mixed media: fabric, nails, wire, Vandyke brownprint, cyanotype. Indiana University Fuller Gallery
2003: Graduate Printmakers, “master” “dancer” pinhole archival pigment prints, SOFA Gallery, Indiana University
2003: IDEAS Festival, Indiana University, "birthright" digital narrative
2002: Artists in Print, SOFA Gallery, Indiana University, “kitchen ware” digital composite, archival pigment print; “Jessica's wedding gown ” pinhole archival pigment print
2001: BFA Thesis Show, SOFA Gallery, Indiana University, installation: “grooming behavior”,  pinhole silver gelatin prints; ”christening gown” cyanotype, Vandyke brownprint, fabric, wood, text, cardboard.
2001: Artists in Print, SOFA Gallery, Indiana University, "untitled", monotype
2000: Whitewater Valley Annual Art Competition: “Genevieve” triptych, pinhole silver prints.
1998: United Printmakers, Indiana University/University of the West of England exchange show:  “Dollface”, Pinhole photo intaglio print.

PRESENTATIONS

2000: Droppo, R. and Calman, W., Pinhole Photography from Small- to Large-Scale. Undergraduate Research Conference, Indiana University Kokomo,Abstract with Program.

CURRENT PROJECTS

2007-2008: The Sudanese Rebaba Project .  A multimedia body of work using pinhole and digital photography, video, and audio to collect the gestures and sounds of Sudanese refugees as they make and play rebabas, stringed instruments that they built and played in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya. Collaboration with Peter Suchecki, Lauri Twitchell, and Jessica Droppo. Funded by the Brabson Library and Education Foundation.

2006-2007: Cities of Refuge, Instrument Building Project .  A multimedia body of work using pinhole and digital photography, video, and audio to collect the gestures and sounds of Michael Malik Pac as he makes a rebaba, a stringed instrument that he built and played in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya. Collaboration with Peter Suchecki and Lauri Twitchell. Funded by the Indiana Arts Commission.

2003-2008: Cities of Refuge. A multimedia work combining pinhole and digital photography, voice recordings, music, and video. Contributors are women and men from the African-American, African/Brazilian, Sudanese, and American cultures. There is a strong emphasis on stories, gesture, tone of voice and invitation within the metaphor of making.

2001-2006: birthright. Collaboration with composer Michael Mattner. A multimedia work that addresses how women pass on information by means of gesture, tone of voice, and story-telling, using cookbooks as a metaphor for making. The five-part piece includes original music, voice recordings, pinhole photography, and silver photography for output to VHS/DVD and archival pigment prints.

2001-2004: MFA Technical Thesis, "Indiana University Printmaking Archives: Cataloging and Conservation."