Ruth Lantz
Statement
Screen technologies are changing the way we experience space. My paintings explore how the history of landscape painting has helped to shape our use and understanding of our current virtual spaces. My works collapse the tension between the traditional canvas and the digital screen, both of which engage in flattening, visual manipulation, and mapping by technological programs.
I simulate technological space through analog paint applications. For instance, I hand composite Albert Bierstadt paintings, MAC IOS background images, video game terrains, wireframe environments, and 3D-mapped imagery to form a new space on the canvas. Next, I methodically build the image with layers of acrylic paint, spray applications, vinyl paint, colored pencil, and silkscreen. I integrate abstract forms such as grids, paint pulls, hard edges, and flat shapes to create illusory depth and implied texture. The final work is cohesive as one smooth and seamless surface, depicting the convergence of landscape and technology while creating visual slippages between a nineteenth-century romantic vision and our contemporary fractured digital experience.
I aim to depict and reimagine at once, investigating our past and present relationships with landscape and technology while leaving room for possible futures.
Ruth Lantz, an Urbana, IL based artist, received her Masters in Visual Studies from the Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) in Portland, OR in 2010. Her work has been featured nationally at numerous galleries and institutions, including the Rockford Art Museum (Rockford, IL), Russo Lee Gallery (Portland, OR) Disjecta (Portland, OR), Washington State University Vancouver (Vancouver, WA), Governors State University (University Park, IL), St. Louis Artist’s Guild (St. Louis, MO), Northern Illinois University (Dekalb, IL) and Indianapolis Art Center (Indianapolis, IN). Her work was featured at the Portland International Airport and she was a presenter in the “Making a Better Painting” Symposium at the Hoffman Gallery at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR. Lantz is the founder of Crit Connection, a project providing networking opportunities and resources to emerging and mid-career artists.
CV
Education
2010 MFA in Visual Studies, Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) Portland OR
2004 BFA in Studio Arts, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Chicago IL
Solo Exhibitions
2026 (Upcoming)
The Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles MO.
2023
Hugh N. Ronald Gallery at The Arts Place, Portland IN, Landscape Provocations
2019
AVA, Astoria OR, Sites Unseen
Portland International Airport, Portland OR, Technotope
2018
Southern Oregon University Thorndyke Gallery, Ashland OR, Transformative Saturation
2017
Portland Community College Sylvania Campus, Northview Gallery, Portland OR, GlitchScape
2016
Governors State University, Black Box Gallery, University Park IL, VistaVision Lower Columbia College Art Gallery, Longview WA, Sightlines
2014
University of Washington Vancouver, Vancouver WA, Slow Burn
2012
Stumptown Downtown, Portland OR, Shifting Meridian
2009
In House Gallery, Portland OR, Vacillations
The Lodge Gallery at Allied Works Architecture, Portland OR, InBetween
Pacific Northwest College of Art, MFA Central, Portland OR, Infinite Spaces
Selected Exhibitions
2025
Evansville Museum of Art, History, and Science, Evansville IN, Mid States Exhibition
Art Link Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN, Midwest Regional Exhibition
2024
Freeport Art Museum, Freeport, IL Midwest Juried Show
ARC Gallery, Chicago IL, Doomscapes
Northern Illinois University, Dekalb IL, Screenic Paradigms 2.0 : artist and curator
2023
Evanston Arts Center, Evanston + Vicinity Biennial. Evanston IL
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Bloc Gallery, Champaign IL
2022
Rockford Art Museum, Rockford IL, The Midwest Biennal: curated by Frank Juarez
Neon Heater, Findley OH, Screenic Paradigms
Piano Craft Gallery, Boston MA, Finding a Memory: curated Erika B. Hess
St. Louis Artists Guild, St. Louis MO, Visions of the America Landscape: Juried by Emmy Lingscheit
Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis IN, Artists of the Midwest: Juried by Jean Robertson
2021
Dodomu Gallery, New York NY, New Contemporaries
2020
Lewis and Clark College Hoffman Gallery, Portland OR, Making a Better Painting Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica CA, Left Coast Annual: Juried by Carin Adams
2019
GIFC Worldwide Show Series, various venues
2016
Governors State University Visual Arts Gallery, University Park IL, Abstraction: Ways of Making
2015
Portland Community College Paragon Gallery, Portland OR, PCC Faculty and Staff Exhibition
2014
Linfield College, McMinnville OR, Landscape: A Survey of Regional Contemporary Painting
Nisus Gallery, Portland OR, Flatlands
2013
Heathman Hotel, Portland OR, Profound Impact PNCA Staff and Alumnus
Russo Lee Gallery, Portland OR, New Views
2012
Washington State University Vancouver, Vancouver WA, Faculty and Staff Exhibition
Swarm Gallery, Oakland CA, True Places
2011
Pacific Northwest College of Art Gallery 214, Portland OR, Variations
Worksound, Portland OR, Identity Paintings
Ditch Projects, Springfield OR, ON&ON&ON
2010
Pacific Northwest College of Art Swigert Commons, Portland OR, Morph/Shif
PNCA MFA Thesis Exhibition, Goldsmith Building, Portland OR
WorkSound, Portland OR, Transverse
2009
Disjecta, Portland OR, Egocentric
2008
The Lodge Gallery at Allied Works Architecture, Portland OR, Ritual of Initiation
Other Projects
2020 Founder: Crit Connection, A project providing networking opportunities to artists
through monthly one-on-one connections for conversation and critique. 2020-present
Teaching Experience
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Urbana IL, Visiting Artist – 2023
Portland Community College, Cascade Campus, Portland OR – 2012-present
Heartland Community College, Normal IL – 2021
Washington State University Vancouver, Vancouver WA – 2012-2020
More Info and Links
Podcast: New Visionary Podcast – Building Community Through Conversation and Critique with Ruth Lantz
Writing: Down in the Uncanny Valley: The Landscapes of Ruth Lantz by Jeff Ostergren
Lecture: The Machine in the Mountain – Ruth Lantz at UIUC
Interview: I Like Your Work: Ruth Lantz
