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Ruth Tunstall Grant

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Ruth Tunstall Grant
Tunstall Grant c. 1960s.
Tunstall Grant c. 1960s.
Born(1945-01-23)January 23, 1945
Boulder, Colorado
DiedJune 5, 2017(2017-06-05) (aged 72)
San José, California
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Artist, Art Educator, Activist
Years active1966–2017
SpouseDuncan Chadwick Grant
ChildrenSheehan Grant


Ruth Tunstall Grant

Ruth Tunstall Grant (1945–2017) was an African American artist, educator and activist in the San Francisco Bay Area known for her paintings, community activism, and arts advocacy. Her work has been featured in many invitational group exhibitions as well as solo shows at national and international venues such as Dallas Museum of Fine Art, Dallas, Texas; Rath Museum, Geneva, Switzerland; Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California; San José Museum of Art, San José, California; and Los Gatos Museum of Art, Los Gatos, California. She had a strong focus on community service and advocacy of children’s rights and social justice in and beyond Santa Clara County. She established many innovative, ongoing arts programs and inspired creative activists, such as Marita Dingus.

Early Life and Education

Ruth Tunstall Grant was born to Dr. Lucille Hawkins Tunstall and E. H. Tunstall in Denver, Colorado in 1945. Her mother was one of the first black women leads of virology at the CDC. Her father was a Tuskegee Airman. Among Grant's early memories include visits to the Detroit Institute of Art. "Her mother, a busy academic, often worked on weekends and dropped Tunstall Grant and her sister off at the Detroit Institute of Art on her way to work. The girls wandered through the collections for hours, overseen by the museum guards who recognized them from their frequent weekend visits. These museum experiences primed Tunstall Grant’s pursuit of art in college.” [1]

She received a professional certificate from the Detroit Society of Arts & Crafts Arts School in Detroit in 1965, and an Associate Degree in Art from Delta College, University Center in 1966. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Painting and Master of Fine Arts Degree in Painting from the University of Dallas Irving (1969, 1970).[2]

As an undergraduate in 1969, New York curator Henri Ghent included her in Ten Afro-American Artists, an exhibition of paintings and drawings at Mount Holyoke College. The following year she was awarded an art scholarship to Italy. [2]

Career

Tunstall Grant’s artistic vision and style evolved through her unceasing curiosity and exploration of contemporary content and new media. Independent curator and writer Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins has traced the artist’s development from acrylic painting, watercolor, collage to public art. In discussing Tunstall Grant’s paintings, LeFalle-Collins states “cosmic compositions” and “observant naturescapes” displaying her “female agency” reflected the times. [3]

Early exhibitions included exhibition with catalog, Eight Afro-American Artists, 1971, Musée Rath, Geneva, Switzerland and Four Moderns, 1972, Brooklyn Museum, New York, reviewed in the New York Times. In 1976 she was reviewed by New York curator Henri Ghent.[4]

She moved to Davis, California in 1971, and then in 1975 to in San José, California where most of Tunstall Grant’s art and activist life took place.

Her work has been featured in many invitational group exhibitions as well as solo shows at national and international venues such as: Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas; Jennifer Paul Gallery, Sacramento, California; Los Gatos Museum of Art, Los Gatos, California; Rath Museum, Geneva, Switzerland; Siepp Gallery, Palo Alto, California.

Ruth Tunstall Grant, Bringing You Hope and Love, detail, 2000. Acrylic on paper, 39” x 60”.
Ruth Tunstall Grant, Bringing You Hope and Love, detail, 2000. Acrylic on paper, 39” x 60”.

Solo Exhibitions include:

  • Haggerty Gallery, University of Dallas, Irving, Texas , 1970
  • Davis Art Center, Davis, California,1972
  • UC Davis’s Memorial Art Gallery, Davis, California,1972
  • Clark College, Atlanta, 1976
  • Ruth Tunstall Grant: Works on Paper, San José Museum of Art, San José, California, 1981
  • Seipp Gallery, Castelleja School, Palo Alto, California, 1983
  • Allegra Gallery, San José, California, 1985
  • Allegra Gallery, San José, California, 1986
  • Ruth Tunstall Grant: Dream Dancers, San José City College, San José, California, 1999
  • A Journey, Los Gatos Museum of Art and Natural History, Los Gatos, California, 1999
  • Ruth Tunstall Grant: Repeated Redirections, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California, 2000
  • Cross Roads, Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, California, 2010
  • Ruth Tunstall Grant, Bay Area Collections, San José City College Art Gallery, 2018
  • Ruth Tunstall Grant, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California, 2019

Community and Arts Advocacy

Tunstall Grant was a major leader to rethink the South Bay art scene in the late 1970s and 1980s, just as Silicon Valley tech advances were taking off. In 1982 she served on the board and selection committee for WORKS/San José, an exhibition and performance art space for emerging artists.

Tunstall Grant served as teacher and director of the museum art school at the San José Museum of Art, San José, California from 1976–1988, starting art programs in about a dozen schools, including those in struggling neighborhoods—as she stated, “the first outreach program ever for the museum." [5] She led the charge on bringing arts education for San José’s underserved schools and worked to introduce an art program at the Santa Clara County Children’s Shelter—just two of the many initiatives she fostered in her lifetime.[6]

In 1984, as an Arts Council Santa Clara County board member, she started Hands on the Arts, an annual festival in Sunnyvale, California. In 1987, she was awarded Santa Clara County Woman of Achievement Award. Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell (ret.) gave the keynote. Hazzard Cordell lauds Tunstall Grant's impact, which ultimately brought children’s artwork and collaborative projects into county courtrooms and social service offices.[7]

In 1989, with others, Tunstall Grant started Genesis, Sanctuary for the Arts[8], at the first of three locations in San José, combining art studios, art exhibitions and interdisciplinary events. Performers included jazz violinist India Cooke and U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera.[9][10]

A major unique undertaking was developing and serving as director of the Santa Clara County’s Children’s Shelter Arts Program from 1992–2009. [11] [12]

In 2003 she was appointed to the San José Art Commission. [13]

As a San José arts commissioner, Tunstall Grant began and led the exhibition program (2006–2012) for the new San José City Hall. The first exhibition was Hidden Heritage going back to the city’s African American leaders in the late 1800s. Artist collaborators included Joyce McEwen Crawford and Mary Parks Washington. [14]

Tunstall Grant collaborated on Japantown Mural Project, 2012–2013, a community project by Rasteroids Design and the City of San José Public Art Program to celebrate an historic neighborhood, once one of San José’s first Chinatown settlements known as “Heinlenville.” [15] [13]

Ruth Tunstall Grant was an acclaimed artist, activist, and educator whose influence continues to be felt in the artistic and civic community of the South Bay Area and beyond. Her unselfish service and untiring advocacy for the arts and youth inspired many creative activists and laid a foundation for Silicon Valley’s activism and growth. Tunstall Grant derived strength from family and cross-cultural friendships, honored their experiences and training, and continually built bridges.[16]

Collections and Archives

Her paintings are in the collections of the de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California; the Triton Museum, Santa Clara, California; the University of Dallas; and the African American Museum of Dallas.

The African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO) has Tunstall Grant's papers and electronic archives.

Awards and Recognition

She received a 1987 Santa Clara County’s Woman of Achievement Award in the Arts.

She was presented an Alain Locke Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1999 from the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan.

The Children’s Shelter of Santa Clara County, a program that provided fine art instruction for abused and abandoned children of which Tunstall Grant was founder and director, received the EA Taller Award for the Art Education Program. [17]

Her artworks have appeared in the following publications: Art International Magazine, The Bay City Times, The New York Times, The Sacramento Bee, New York Amsterdam News, The San Jose Mercury News, Metro, and Afro-American Artist. [13]

Tunstall Grant is included in Who’s Who Among Black Americans, 1977–78, 1980–81, 81–82, 83–84, 85–86.

Timeline of Accomplishments

1966

  • Best of Show, Studio 23, Bay City, Michigan

1968

  • First Prize, Watercolor, Saginaw Area Artists Exhibition, Saginaw Art Museum, Michigan

1969

  • Dan Danciger Jewish Community Center, Fort Worth, Texas
  • Graphics, Mount Holyoke College, Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts

1970

  • Award, Graphics, 29th Annual Exhibition of Afro-American Artists, Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia
  • One-person exhibition, Haggerty Gallery, University of Dallas, Irving, Texas

1971

  • Exhibition with catalog, Eight Afro-American Artists, Musée Rath, Geneva, Switzerland

1972

  • Four Moderns, Brooklyn Museum, New York, review in the New York Times.
  • One-person exhibition, Davis Art Center, Davis, California

1973

  • Group exhibition, Jennifer Pauls Gallery, Sacramento, California

1974

  • One-person exhibition, Memorial Union Art Gallery, University of California, Davis

1975

  • Group exhibition, Invitational Silent Auction of Northern California Artists, Davis

1976

  • Ghent, Henri. “Art by Black Americans,” ARTWEEK, October 2, 1976, Vol. 7, No. 33, p 10.
  • One-person exhibition, University Center, Clark College, Atlanta, Georgia

1979–1988

  • Teacher and director of museum art school, San José Museum of Art, San José, California

1980

  • San José State University and City of San José task force for safety

1980–1983

  • Board of Directors, YWCA Silicon Valley

1981

  • Ruth Tunstall Grant: Works on Paper, San José Museum of Art, San José, California
  • Group exhibition, Public Involvement Gallery, Tapestry in Talent, San José

1982

  • Appointment to Board of Directors, Cultural Council of Santa Clara County
  • Board of Directors, Selection Committee, Works/San José
  • Exhibition, Works, San José City Hall Exhibition

1983

  • One-person exhibition, Seipp Gallery, Castelleja School, Palo Alto, California

1983–1985

  • Collectors Choice Auction and group exhibitions, San José Art League, San José

1984

  • As Cultural Council of Santa Clara County board member, starts Hands on the Arts annual festival, Sunnyvale, California
  • San José Institute of Contemporary Art (SJICA), San José

1985

  • Award, excellence in community service, 41st Santa Clara County Fair

1985, 1986

  • One-person exhibitions, Allegra Gallery, San José

1987

  • Opening exhibition of new Allegra Gallery, San José
  • Santa Clara County Arts Council, Artistic Review grants panel
  • Santa Clara County Woman of Achievement, nominated by Senator Dan McCorquodale

1987–1990

  • California Arts Council grants review panel

1987–1992

  • Board of Directors, Euphrat Gallery, De Anza College, Cupertino, California

1988

  • Willi Award, New San José Renaissance Awards Banquet, presented by Councilmember Shirley Lewis
  • Arts education delegation to China, People to People International; gives presentation

1989

  • With others, starts Genesis at 183A Ryland Street, San José
  • Advisor/consultant for starting and developing Euphrat Gallery’s Arts & Schools Program, De Anza College, Cupertino
  • Mayor’s award to work with high-risk youth, City of San José (seed money for establishing the art program at the Children’s Shelter, County of Santa Clara)
  • Intercessor, Saint Joseph’s Cathedral project, San José
  • China Reflections, paintings, drawings, and monoprints, Allegra Gallery, San José
  • Euphrat Gallery, De Anza College, Cupertino

1990

  • Facilitator, Multicultural Center panel, Santa Clara County Arts Council Symposium “Challenges, Choices & Solutions: A Vision for American Art in the 1990s.”
  • Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, California
  • Group exhibition, Harlequin Gallery, Fairmont Hotel, San José
  • Group exhibition, Altares: Contemporary Interpretations, SJICA with Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA)

1991

  • Workshop presentation at “Breaking New Ground, Women’s History Month Celebration,” sponsored by Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women, Hyatt Hotel, San José
  • Trustee/exhibition planner, Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, California
  • California Arts Council artist-in-residence at Santa Clara County Children’s Shelter
  • Incorporates Genesis, A Sanctuary for the Arts, as a nonprofit (501c3), serving as president

1992–2009

  • Director, Santa Clara County Children’s Shelter Arts Program

1992

  • Reopening of Genesis at 40 N. First Street, San José
  • Plans World AIDS Day with San José Sate University
  • Plans multicultural arts season with Joe B. Rodriguez, City of San José Office of Cultural Affairs

1995

  • Group exhibition, Dialogues, Genesis Gallery, San José

1997

  • Advisor to Board of Directors, MACLA; curates County Children’s Shelter 1989–1997 retrospective
  • Exhibition, A Contemporary Survey of Bay Area African-American Artists, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California

1999

  • Alain Locke Award, Excellence in the Arts, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
  • Ruth Tunstall Grant: Dream Dancers, San José City College, San José
  • A Journey, Los Gatos Museum of Art and Natural History, Los Gatos, California

2000

  • Exhibition, Ruth Tunstall Grant: Repeated Redirections, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara

2003

  • Kids First Institute Award of Excellence, Silicon Valley Children’s Fund

2003–2009

  • San José Arts Commission, including Chair of Public Art Committee

2005

  • Hearts in San Francisco, painted sculpture public installation, fundraiser for San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, California

2006–2012

  • Chair of City Hall Exhibits Committee

2010

  • Crossroads, Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, California

2012–2013

  • Japantown Mural Project, public art project

2013–2017

  • Mentor for artists; inspiration and cover image contributor for Jan Rindfleisch’s book Roots and Offshoots: Silicon Valley’s Arts Community, for which is the subject of a major article

2018

  • Tunstall Grant art welcomed into the exhibition/collection of Lifted Spirits Women’s Drop-in Center, a haven for homeless women at First Presbyterian Church, San José
  • Ruth Tunstall Grant, Bay Area Collections, San José City College Art Gallery

2019

  • Exhibition, Ruth Tunstall Grant, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara
  • Creative Power: The Art and Activism of Ruth Tunstall Grant, book by Jan Rindfleisch with Barbara Goldstein and essay by Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins

Further Reading

Rindfleisch, Jan (2017). Roots and Offshoots: Silicon Valley’s Arts Community. Santa Clara, CA: Ginger Press. ISBN 9780998308401.

Rindfleisch, Jan with Goldstein, Barbara (2019). Creative Power: The Art and Activism of Ruth Tunstall Grant. Santa Clara, CA: Ginger Press. ISBN: 9780998308425.

References

  1. ^ Rindfleisch, Jan (2019). Creative power : the art and activism of Ruth Tunstall Grant. Barbara Goldstein, Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins. Santa Clara, CA: Ginger Press. pp. 12–14. ISBN 978-0-9983084-2-5. OCLC 1142646785.
  2. ^ a b Resume, Gallery 30, San Mateo, California, 1982
  3. ^ Rindfleisch, Jan (2019). Creative power : the art and activism of Ruth Tunstall Grant. Barbara Goldstein, Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins. Santa Clara, CA: Ginger Press. pp. 12–14. ISBN 978-0-9983084-2-5. OCLC 1142646785.
  4. ^ Ghent, Henri. “Art by Black Americans,” ARTWEEK, October 2, 1976, Vol. 7, No.33, p 10.
  5. ^ Rindfleisch, Jan (2017). Roots & offshoots : Silicon Valley's arts community. Maribel L. Alvarez, Raj Jayadev, Nancy Hom, Ann Sherman. Santa Clara, CA: Ginger Press. pp. 106–109. ISBN 978-0-9983084-0-1. OCLC 988950620.
  6. ^ "'Tunstall-Grant Retrospective' at Triton Museum of Art | Metroactive". activate.metroactive.com. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  7. ^ Rindfleisch, Jan (2019). Creative power : the art and activism of Ruth Tunstall Grant. Barbara Goldstein, Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins. Santa Clara, CA: Ginger Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-9983084-2-5. OCLC 1142646785.
  8. ^ Staff, Writer (7 June 2017). "Ruth Tunstall Grant Obituary". San José Mercury News. Retrieved 6 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ Rindfleisch, Jan (2017). Roots & offshoots : Silicon Valley's arts community. Maribel L. Alvarez, Raj Jayadev, Nancy Hom, Ann Sherman. Santa Clara, CA: Ginger Press. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-9983084-0-1. OCLC 988950620.
  10. ^ Rindfleisch, Jan (2019). Creative power : the art and activism of Ruth Tunstall Grant. Barbara Goldstein, Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins. Santa Clara, CA: Ginger Press. pp. 32–33. ISBN 978-0-9983084-2-5. OCLC 1142646785.
  11. ^ Rindfleisch, Jan (2017). Roots & offshoots : Silicon Valley's arts community. Maribel L. Alvarez, Raj Jayadev, Nancy Hom, Ann Sherman. Santa Clara, CA. ISBN 978-0-9983084-0-1. OCLC 988950620.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ^ Rindfleisch, Jan (2019). Creative power : the art and activism of Ruth Tunstall Grant. Barbara Goldstein, Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins. Santa Clara, CA. ISBN 978-0-9983084-2-5. OCLC 1142646785.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ a b c "The Japantown Mural Project". legacy.rasteroids.com. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  14. ^ Rindfleisch, Jan (2019). Creative power : the art and activism of Ruth Tunstall Grant. Barbara Goldstein, Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins. Santa Clara, CA: Ginger Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-9983084-2-5. OCLC 1142646785.
  15. ^ Rindfleisch, Jan (2019). Creative power : the art and activism of Ruth Tunstall Grant. Barbara Goldstein, Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins. Santa Clara, CA: Ginger Press. pp. 32, 36–37. ISBN 978-0-9983084-2-5. OCLC 1142646785.
  16. ^ Ruth Tunstall Grant - Triton Museum of Art, www.tritonmuseum.org/exhibitions_grant.php
  17. ^ "Chukes – Joyce's Blog". Joyce's Blog. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
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