SLATER SHOW DETAILS LIFE AND WORK OF NORWICH NATIVE ELLIS WALTER RULEY
Norwich’s Slater Museum will be hosting an exhibition detailing the work and life of Norwich native and artist Ellis Walter Ruley this fall. Ruley, an African American artist born in Norwich in 1882, pursued life as a painter in the Rose City, despite being born into modest circumstances, establishing himself as a local “outsider” artist during his lifetime. His work, which is reminiscent of Jean Jacques Rousseau's, was often inspired by his environment as well as by photographs from Life Magazine and was vividly colorful and bucolic. The Slater exhibiton about the artist was organized and curated with the Wadsworth Athenaeum's director of the Amistad Center, W. Frank Mitchell.
After the artist’s mysterious death in 1959, Ruley faded from the public consciousness until 1996, when a book cataloguing Ruley’s work was published and a retrospective show of his work toured the country. Slater’s exhibition comes after significant strides have been made, primarily by the Norwich City Ellis Walter Ruley Committee, to remember the artist. In recent years, a public park has been erected at the artist’s home site, a play has been written about Ruley's life, and art exhibitions inspired by the artist’s work have been held.
The opening reception for “Brought to Light: Ellis Ruley in Norwich” will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at the museum located at 108 Crescent St., Norwich, and is free and open to the public. The show will run until Dec. 2. Hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission to the museum is $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and students, and free under age 12. Call (860) 887-2506 or visit www.slatermuseum.org.