Biography

Painter, graphic artist, and teacher. Ruiz earned a bachelor’s degree at Interamerican University in San Germán and a master’s degree at New York University. She was a student of George McNeill’s and studied lithography at the Art Studio of the Associated Students of the University of California Auxiliary in Berkeley. She pursued doctoral studies at the Universidad Autónoma in Madrid. Until 1976 she chaired the Fine Arts Department at the San Germán Campus of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, and was distinguished professor of the IAU’s San Juan Campus, where she has been artist-in-residence since 1992. She is a founding member of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico and has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Puerto Rico School of Plastic Arts. Throughout her career, she has been a tireless promoter of art education. Ruiz is one of the key figures in the development of abstract art in Puerto Rico. In her work she has employed the spectrum of colors and rhythms that distinguish the tropical Caribbean and created visually forceful and expressive compositions based on very personal ideas and emotions.