Linda Ruth taught 1st - 8th grade art at Open Door Christian Academy for 39 years. She also taught K - 6th at Phil-Mont Christian Academy for 10 years until the birth of her firstborn son, Jacob Steven, in 1996. Her second son Josef Vernon was born in 1997. She served at Cairn University teaching the "Integrating Arts" course from 1998 - 2009. She is currently an adjunct professor at Arcadia University teaching "The Artist in the Community" and an Honors course she developed called "The Color of Poverty", connecting issues between art and social justice. Her "Art from the Heart" program has led her to work at various nursing home facilities over the last 15 years doing “art as therapy”. The opportunity for inter-generational dynamics between children and the elderly was an additional component of the program.
Linda Ruth has received four Who's Who Among American Teachers awards over the span of her career. In 1981 she was the recipient of the Spruance-Daumier Award for Excellence in Art from Arcadia University. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a concentration in painting, and a K–12 certification in art education. In 1991 she received her Master of Education from Arcadia University.
Motherhood and the birth of her two boys were the inspiration behind the start of her business, Peek-A-View Photography. For over 20 years, she specialized in the fine art of photographing children, life, and love, and she continues to do shoots locally for family, friends, and special events. Currently her work has shifted to a more global focus with a particular concern for the arts and social transformation.
In 2006, LR took her first trip into poverty. While walking through a poor village in the Andean Highlands of Northern Ecuador, she saw a young boy riding his broken down bike on a rocky dirt road. He had no tires. He was riding on metal rims. He was content. This child's demeanor captivated her heart. Vowing to continue her travels and lessons from those living in poverty, the following year she traveled to Guatemala. It was the intoxicating colors of the indigenous artwork in the local markets juxtaposed with the surrounding poverty that brought about her vision for the "Color of Poverty."
Since that first trip in 2011, she has made numerous trips to North, East, South and West Africa as well as various countries in South America and Central America. She has recently been to Haiti, Thailand, and Cambodia and looks forward to exploring the rest of the world as opportunities arise. The majority of her work has been with non-profit organizations working with orphanages and aiding children and adults living in poverty. The photographs are designed to assist the respective programs with their work and to educate individuals about various global art organizations that promote economic opportunities and equal access to education for women in particular.
Linda Ruth seeks to honor the courageous and inspirational individuals she has had the privilege of meeting and calling friends in many instances. They have become some of her greatest teachers, broadening her lens on life, gratitude and "first world problems." Her desire is to produce images that inspire change and identifies the universal dignity of every human being. May we all be more mindful of the stunning sufferings of this world, and be ignited from within to see how our creativity, gifts and compassion might be used to give a voice to the voiceless and bring hope to the world.
Meanwhile...
Aspire to inspire before you expire!
Nanna Kittoe Manful and students from The State School for the Deaf, Adjei Kojo at Tema West District, Ghana (2016)