Ginny Ruffner

RuffnerGlass artist Ginny Ruffner is one of the most creative and best loved of American artists working in glass. She received her M.F.A. degree from the University of Georgia in 1975, where she graduated summa cum laude. Her distinguished career spans more than three decades. Ruffner’s flame work glass sculptures can be found in countless major private and public collections, including the museums listed below. Artist Ginny Ruffner is the subject of dozens of articles and of a film which is tentatively scheduled to premiere at the Seattle Film Festival in May, 2010. Ginny Ruffner is also the recipient of many awards, including the Libensky award from the Pilchuck Glass School, an Honorary LIfetime Achievement award from the Glass Art Society and a grant and Visual Artist Fellowship from the National Endlowment for the Arts. Ginny Ruffner is currently working on several major commissions for public spaces, including one in downtown Seattle. Her current work is mostly focused on large scale organic sculptures combining glass and bronze and a major museum exhibition of this series is touring the U.S. Much of Ruffner’s glass art employs the age old technique of lamp work or flame work. This involves heating and fusing multiple glass elements together.

For further information on Ginny Ruffner’s glass techniques visit our glass art techniques page. There you will find a more detailed explanation of Ruffner’s flame work or lamp work technique.

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Bergstrom-Mahler Museum, Neenah, WI
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, NY
Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
High Art Museum, Atlanta, GA
Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan
Hsinchu Cultural Center, Hsinchu, Taiwan
Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN
Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV
Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
Koganezaki Glass Museum, Kamakura, Japan
Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, NC
Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, Montgomery, AL
Montreal Museum of Fine Art, Montreal, Canada
Musée of Design and Applied Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
Museum of Art and Design, NY, NY
Norton Museum of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, FL
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA
Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL
Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland, Australia
Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
MH de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA