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Ruth Beer

Professor, Faculty of Art and Faculty of Graduate Studies

Availability:

Education:

BFA
MFA
PhD

Bio

Ruth Beer is a Vancouver-based artist and researcher whose interdisciplinary work includes sculpture, video, photography and tapestry projects that have been exhibited nationally and internationally. She is a Professor in the Faculty of Art (Sculpture and Interdisciplinary Visual Art) and in the Faculty of Graduate Studies teaching undergraduate students as well as teaching and supervising graduate students.

Websites:

Research Interests

Ruth's interdisciplinary artistic practice examines and envisions contested geographies and landscapes in transition. Her most recent exhibitions include "Shifting Ground-Muuttuva Maa" at the Rovaniemi Art Museum Finland (2024) and solo exhibitions at the Burnaby Art Gallery and Art Gallery at Evergreen (2024/25). She has received several public art commissions to create large scale sculptures for the City of Richmond, Burnaby, North Vancouver, Vancouver and Surrey, B.C. Ruth’s artistic research projects supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) include "Land, Sea, Sky: Digital Infrastructure in Transition in Northern Landscapes and Communities" (2025-2029), an on-going project "Shifting Ground: Mapping Energy, Geographies and Communities in the North" (2019-2025) and a previous research creation project "Trading Routes: Grease Trails, Oil Pipelines".

Courses

Course Name Department Course Code Term
Sculpture SCLP 200 26/FA

Description

This studio course introduces students to the materials, methods, and conceptual frameworks central to contemporary sculpture. Studio assignments encourage material experimentation and invite students to apply the materials and techniques explored in each workshop to create sculptural responses to thematic prompts. Themes may include transformation and reuse of found objects, ecological and environmental concerns, sustainability, systems of collecting and display, and place-based practice. Students will explore a range of traditional and experimental approaches to sculpture, including work with wood, metal, and mold-making and casting. Emphasis is placed on developing both technical skill and meaning-making through hands-on studio projects that connect material processes with conceptual inquiry. Students will participate in a series of technical workshops in Sculpture, gaining practical experience with key fabrication processes. Through demonstrations, presentations, discussions, and critiques, students will develop both technical proficiency and conceptual understanding, situating their work within the broader contexts of contemporary sculptural practice.

Pre-requisites

No prerequisites.