‘Boy, did I have fun’: Ruth Burger, 98, debuts her first public art exhibit – Galesburg Register
About this story: This month, the Galesburg Civic Art Center’s Blick Gallery is hosting the work of a local woman who is 98 years old and always saw art as a challenge.
GALESBURG — Ruth Burger started with mud.
She moved to wood. In the second half of her life, she discovered pottery. Then it was wood carving cyprus knees, and she found a way to express her love of Christmas and Santa Claus.
Burger saw art as a challenge to be met.
Now, just days from her 98th birthday, some of Burger’s ceramics, wood carvings and mixed media works are on display inside the Galesburg Civis Art Center’s Blick Gallery.
The show opened Thursday and runs until May 31.
“I call myself a Jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none,” Burger said a few hours before Thursday’s opening. “But, boy, did I have fun.
“My mother’s favorite story about me was that as a child, I didn’t need a sandbox — I needed a mud box. I always liked forming things and building things and making things with my hands.”
As a child, Burger moved from mud to making some Christmas decorations with a scroll saw. But she didn’t actively pursue art — though she always found creative projects to delight her family and friends.
In 1970, at the age of 51, Burger hatched a plan after seeing the potters at Colorado Springs. She enlisted the help of her husband, Ray.
“I told Ray I wanted a potter’s wheel,” she recalled. “He
Article source: http://www.galesburg.com/news/20170521/boy-did-i-have-fun-ruth-burger-98-debuts-her-first-public-art-exhibit