Dee Ruff
artist
Nature’s textures and hues shape my work as a contemporary mosaic and mixed media artist. Through color, light, and material, I explore the relationship between abstraction and the natural world. I create compositions that reflect both transformation and continuity—where fragments come together to form a quiet, unified presence.
As a mosaic and mixed media artist, creating under the artistic name, "Black Cat Mosaics," I draw from a wide range of materials and processes, allowing each piece to evolve through intuitive exploration. By combining unusual items (such as non-biodegradable polystyrene) and architectural materials, I create sturdy, yet relatively lightweight substrates upon which I build my designs. My 2-D and 3-D pieces evolve through an alchemical process. As my process transforms these raw and often overlooked materials into refined, abstract, intentional compositions—this alchemical shift moves the ordinary to the contemplative. This transformation reflects both environmental awareness and a deeper interest in the latent beauty and resilience within materials themselves.
Working in my Tucson studio, I am continually inspired by the earth’s raw elements such as semiprecious minerals, natural stone, metals, ceramics, and by the luminous qualities of glass—both opaque and transparent. Each unique piece becomes a meditation on balance, resilience, and sometimes, the quiet intelligence found in natural forms. As I hand cut, shape, and create my compositions, the result is always quite different from the beginning. My art invites reflection, transformation, and quiet discovery.
Mosaic, with its ancient lineage, offers a powerful metaphor for interconnectedness. Each fragment carries its own history and meaning yet contributes to a larger whole. In my work, this process mirrors the rhythms of nature and life itself, where individual moments come together to form something unified, contemplative, and resilient.
