Ruth Doerschuk Dicker (March 9, 1919 – December 2, 2004) was a California painter of landscapes. She primarily lived in New York City, Palo Alto, and Santa Rosa.
Personal life
Ruth Doerschuk was born in Niagara Falls, New York, on March 9, 1919. She had a sister named Anne. She received private lessons in oil painting between the ages of nine and twelve.
Doerschuk met her husband, Ralph Dicker, in New York and they were married on August 25, 1942, in California. They raised their sons Thomas and Scott in Palo Alto, California.
Education
She went to Salem Academy boarding school. She studied art history and painting and graduated from College of William and Mary in 1940. She moved to New York City where she studied at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art and at the Art Students League of New York under Ernest Fiene.
Career
While in New York, Dicker worked as a freelance illustrator, a fashion model and a draftsman for Sperry Gyroscope. In 1970, Dicker moved to Bennett Ridge in Santa Rosa, California, where she found her most recognizable style in depicting the landscapes of Sonoma County. Her style includes vibrant acrylic colors, splatters of paint and strips of wood covered in rice-paper to give dimensionality and texture.
Throughout her career, her work was shown in galleries, museums, corporate offices in New York City and in and around the San Francisco Bay area. She participated in one woman or group shows at the Legion of Honor, the Oakland Museum of California, and Stanford University.
After her husband died in 1980, she enjoyed the most productive years of her career. In 1983, Dicker traveled with a group of California artists led by Earl Thollander to China. She enjoyed the art of the Southwest United States and often traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Her notable paintings include the large paintings depicting the seasons in the dining room of The Nut Tree (now closed) in Vacaville, California, and a wood mural at the Yosemite Art and Education Center, now the Valley Wilderness Center.
Dicker died on December 2, 2004, when she was living Santa Rosa, California.
Awards
Dicker was named American Association of University Women's "Women Artist of the Year". In 1964, she won the Society of Women Artists' President's prize at the San Francisco Museum of Art. At the De Saisset Museum she won first and second prizes.
Collections
Dicker's art is in many private and public collections in the United States and abroad, including: Bank of America Barnes-Hine Pharmaceutical Crown Zellerbach Harrah's, Reno, Nevada Price Waterhouse Coopers Wells Fargo Bank
Exhibitions
1961, Impressions of Trees - Stanford Research Institute, Stanford, California
1962, the little studio, New York City, New York
Gallery House, Menlo Park, California
Quay Gallery, Tiburon, California
1962, "Forth Winter Invitational Exhibition", Legion of Honor, San Francisco, California 1964, The Nut Tree, Vacaville, California 1964, "San Francisco Women Artists Fortieth Annual Exhibition", awarded first prize - San Francisco Museum of Art 1966, "85th Annual Exhibition", San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California 1968, Ampex Corporation, Hayward, California 1974, The Nut Tree, Vacaville, California "Painted Wood Constructions and Assemblages", The Marshall Gallery, Tomales Bay, California Arlene Lind Gallery, San Francisco, California 1983, Piper Sonoma 1983, Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, California 1985, California Museum of Art, Santa Rosa, California 1986, Spring Invitational Exhibition - Alden Arts Gallery, Santa Rosa, California 1987, "An Exhibition of bas relief painting", Sterling Vineyards 1987, "Vineyards and Beyond", Kaiser Arts Center Gallery, Oakland, California 1989, The Nut Tree, Vacaville, California 1993, The Nut Tree, Vacaville, California 1994, Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, California 1995, "Indian Summer", Danny & Company, Santa Rosa, California 2001, Mixed Media Paintings - Solano Bank 2003, "Nut Tree Artist Reunion", Vacaville Museum, Vacaville, California 2003, "12th ROTATION, Honoring the Art of Ruth Dicker", Next Level Communications