Ruth Laxson
Ego Echo, 1992 (est.)
Lithograph
30 x 22 inches, Framed 35 x 27.5 inches
Courtesy of Libby Matthews.

Poet and book artist Ruth Laxson (1924-2019) used language as a key element in her work. Her unique style of expressive mark-making was imbued with social skepticism and an unmistakable sense of playfulness. Born in Roanoke, Alabama, she had been living and working in Atlanta since 1953. After years of printmaking, drawing, and performing, Laxson began making artist's books in 1980. Ruth Laxson began Press 63 Plus in 1987 at age 63. She was also well known locally for her garden, a site-specific work of art which combined word-oriented sculptures with a variety of flowering plants. Laxson had been a visiting artist at the University of Iowa, Center for the Book; Atlanta College of Art; and Agnes Scott College. She exhibited in solo and groups shows at the Newberger Museum, SUNY; the Rolling Stone Press; Atlanta College of Art; the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; San Antonio Art Institute; and the Zeitgenossiche Handpressendrucke, Hamburg. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections both nationally and abroad, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Fine Arts Academy, New Delhi; Tate Gallery, London; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Yale University Fine Art & Architecture Library; Rhode Island School of Design; and at MOCA GA. Laxson was featured as one of twenty-seven artists in the recent Georgia Council for the Arts publication: "Georgia Masterpieces: Selected Works from Georgia Museums" and the MOCA GA exhibition it inspired, Twenty Georgia Masters.