Lydia Ruyle

I am humbled, grateful and honored by the creation of a resource / archive for women artists and their herstories at the University of Northern Colorado and naming it The Lydia Ruyle Room of Women?s Art. My family is also grateful.

UNC and I have a long relationship. My mother, Lydia Alles Miller, graduated from the State Normal School in 1929 with a major in foreign languages. In the 1960's she taught German, both at the Lab School and UNC, and at age 65 she studied Russian.

I enrolled in my first art class, watercolor with John Mariani, at Colorado State College of Education in the summer of 1955 while pursuing a degree in political science and economics at the University of Colorado / Boulder. After another name change to Colorado State College, the University of Northern Colorado became my other alma mater when I graduated with a Master of Arts in 1972. Over the years I taught Art History, Renaissance Art, Romanesque Art, Art Appreciation, Printmaking, Women in Art and History of the Goddess. In 1990, Ruth Savig, my dear artist friend and colleague, and I were commissioned to create academic banners for each college which are used at all UNC graduations.

UNC is also my neighbor. The University borders Alles Acres on the west where Bob and I have lived for fifty two years. My parents, Lydia Alles Miller and David J. Miller, created Alles Acres in 1946 out of the Alles family farm and pioneered rammed earth construction there.

I met Chris Pettys in the 1970's when we both served together on the Colorado Council for the Arts & Humanities. Her appreciation of art and her vision to collect women artists is the major gift and impetus for the archive. The Pettys family gifted Chris?s collection to UNC and it will be featured in an exhibition at Mariani Gallery in the fall of 2010.

Beginning in the 1970's, I also began to focus on women artists and images of women in art history. My creative work in printmaking soon reflected that focus. Since I was sixty in 1995, I have created 250 Goddess Icon Spirit Banners which depict sacred images of women from many cultures of the world. They fly around the globe almost continually since their debut at the Celsus Library in Ephesus, Turkey. The
banners will eventually have a permanent home in the archive.

With excitement and anticipation, I look forward to the opening and continuing development of the room and archive.

The Lydia Ruyle Room of Women's Art is an archival space designed to provide viewing and study, for students and the public, of our current and future art collections. This room was made possible by a generous donation of Bob and Lydia Ruyle, both UNC alums.

An impressive collection of prints and drawings by women artists, donated to UNC by Bob and Chris Petteys of Sterling provided the impetus for this space. This collection including works by Mary Cassatt, Bridget Riley, Louise Nevelson, and Kathe Kollwitz are a few of the artists whose work can be viewed by visitors. The Petteys family also donated over 500 books, mostly pertaining to women artists. These books and files enhance the research possibilities for students and faculty.

The room is named after Lydia Ruyle who is a world-renowned local artist who has dedicated her artwork in the past forty years to focus on women artists and images of women in art history. Lydia has created hundreds of Goddess Icon Spirit Banners that depict scared images of women from many cultures of the world. They fly around the globe almost continually since their debut in Ephesus, Turkey. This art will eventually have a permanent home at UNC in the archives. She is an alumna, receiving her Master of arts in 1972; a former UNC art instructor in Art History, Renaissance Art, Romanesque Art, Art Appreciation, Printmaking, Women in Art, and History of the Goddess; and a generous donor to the university.

The Lydia Ruyle Room of Women's Art is located on the lower level of Guggenheim Hall, Room 004. The room will be open Tuesday – Friday from 10 am – 1 pm, or by appointment. For more information contact Joan Shannon-Miller at 970.351.2184, joan.shannonmiller@unco.edu.