Ruby Eagle finds inspiration in the archives
Ruby Eagle, a multimedia artist in Kitchener, spent much of her undergraduate degree digging through the University of Waterloo archives. She wasn’t studying, or writing a paper though. She was on the lookout for the next great piece for her patchwork style of art.
A fine arts major at the time, Eagle’s trips to the university archives resulted in a body of collage work made largely from historic images of Waterloo Region. And, much like a collage, Eagle’s work has layers, spanning styles, formats and mediums. Known to many as a painter and collage artist, she’s taken to a new, creative frontier lately: screen-printing.
“I started collecting these felt pennants, but couldn’t find any from around here,” she says. “Since I was looking for something to do while my baby was napping at the time, I figured I could teach myself to screen-print something really similar.”
The pennants Eagle prints have that old-school, varsity feel to them. And while the small, triangular, felt flags have the aesthetic of celebrating a sports team, they’re printed with words like “Kitchener,” “Hespeler” and “New Hamburg,” celebrating something much closer to Eagle’s heart: her home.
“It’s important to focus on where you are, and your environment,” Eagle says of her locally-focused creations. “Where you are develops your work, and helps ground you in the present.”
With a studio in Elmira, a home not far from where she grew up, and work that celebrates everything from town names to local breweries, Eagle is practicing what she preaches.
“I actually live in an old Kitchener home now, I can’t wait to look up the building records to learn more about who built it, or its history.”
This kind of sentiment – the need to know more – isn’t rare for Eagle. In fact, it seems like it might be the glue that pulls Eagle’s multifaceted career and artwork style into one, cohesive picture.
“I’m a really curious person. If I see something I want, I know I can make it. I’ll research and troubleshoot until I master the project, even if I need to figure out a different way.”
Eagle’s work can be found at the upcoming Frederick Art Walk.
