Ruby Williams | |
---|---|
Born | Ruby Curry 9 June 1928 Bealsville, Florida |
Died | 8 August 2022 Plant City, Florida | (aged 94)
Style | Folk art |
Children | 2 |
Ruby C. Williams (June 9, 1928 – August 8, 2022)[1] was an American folk artist.[2]
She was born and grew up in Bealsville, Florida,[3] a community formed by freed slaves, including Williams' great grandmother, Mary Reddick.[4]
Known as Miss Ruby, she was an evangelical minister in Paterson, New Jersey, for 25 years.[5] After she returned to Florida she ran a produce stand and "walk in" gallery on State Road 60.[3] A self-taught artist, her career in folk art began in 1981 when her hand-painted signs, advertising her fruits and vegetables, were noticed by a local photographer and folk art collector, Bud Lee, who helped her to draw the attention of local media and institutions, including the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, mounted exhibitions.[4]
In 2005 she received the Florida Folk Heritage Award[6] and was included in the show On Their Own – Selected Self-taught Artists at the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum in Washington D.C.[7]