When Ruth DeYoung Kohler II died in 2020, Wisconsin lost one of its greatest advocates for the arts. But it didn’t lose her advocacy.
Thanks to a $440 million bequest, Kohler’s spirit of philanthropy lives on in the form of Ruth Foundation for the Arts. Although Ruth Arts officially launched in 2022, the organization became more visible in September when it opened a public-facing gallery space in a newly renovated 5,000-square-foot factory in Walker’s Point.
“Ruth Arts is really meant to honor her legacy,” says executive director Karen Patterson.
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What does that mean, exactly? For one thing, the organization gives millions of dollars to artists and programs across the country, similar to the ones Kohler championed in her own lifetime. The organization has already allocated $9.1 million in funds to Wisconsin organizations like Lynden Sculpture Garden and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design through state-specific grants.
“We firmly believe that being in Wisconsin is being national, and that you can be firmly placed somewhere and also have relationships nationally,” Patterson says.
Ruth Arts sees philanthropy, rather than exhibitions or programming, as its North Star. “We are primarily a grant maker,” Patterson explains. “That is our mission, that is our goal. And the building is actually an extension of the grant making.”
The new gallery gives Ruth Arts another way to support artists and further relationships with grantees by providing an elegant place to present their works. The inaugural exhibition grew out of a collaboration with one of the organization’s first grantees.
“Benny Andrews: Trouble” is an exploration of the late artist-activist’s multifaceted practice that is as comprehensive and thoughtfully curated as many museum retrospectives. Patterson and her colleagues spent months working with the Andrews-Humphrey Family Foundation to pair these works, which include many of Andrews’ collage-fused figurative paintings, with copies of archival materials that visitors can take home with them.
“In a way, he had us in mind,” Patterson says of Andrews, who dutifully preserved art, photos and articles featuring not just his own works but those of other artists of color in his orbit. “He was archiving for the future.”
In this sense, Andrews and Kohler were motivated by the same core belief: that art should be preserved and championed. The Ruth Arts gallery space carries that torch.
“Benny Andrews: Trouble” is on view through March 7 at 325 W. Florida St. For more information, visit rutharts.org.
