Using a combination of collected and found objects, simple printmaking, and mixed media applications, students will explore various art processes and materials on a journey of self-expression. The result may be autobiographical, or tell a story, or just be a set of beautiful designs and textures. With or without drawing or painting skills, this set of classes will give everyone an opportunity to take many diverse parts together and creatively make them into a whole. 

Instructor: Ruth Askren asks the questions that lie at the intersection of people and nature. What is our place within it and out of it? She paints landscapes with this intuition, in Southern California and wherever she travels in nature. 

She graduated from Art Center College of Design and taught art for eleven years at the elementary and middle school level in Los Angeles. 

She is a member of the Allied Artists of the Santa Monica Mountains and Seashore and the Malibu Art Association, doing shows with them several times a year at annual art fairs which take place at King Gillette Ranch National Park in Malibu, at Malibu Lake, at The Village Green in Pacific Palisades, and several other coastal venues. 

Her work has been shown at Joshua Tree National Park Art Association, San Bernardino County Museum, the Santa Paula Museum of Art, Malibu City Art Gallery, and purchased by the City Hall of Chula Vista, California.

Besides painting, Ruth works across multiple artistic disciplines including the art of collage and mixed media.