Artist, community builder Ruth Waters dead at 88

Waters died at the age of 88 on Monday, June 13. A week earlier, she was seen playing a hands-on role setting up an art exhibition at San Carlos’ Domenico Winery, an event planned by Nounie Siy, a longtime friend of Waters who described their relationship to one between a mother and her daughter.

Siy said she woke up that morning thinking of Waters. The two hadn’t seen each other in about a month due to Siy’s busy schedule. Something felt off, Siy said, leading her to routinely check on Waters personally or through Seymour who assured her Waters was fine. He had seen her earlier that day dropping off a pedestal that would be used to display one of her wood sculptures.

By 7 p.m., the show had started and Waters had not shown. Siy and Seymour would soon learn that before the show Waters had fallen and hit her head while watering her garden, putting her in the hospital.

The news had come as a shock to Siy and Seymour. Despite her advanced age, Waters was highly active, still playing tennis — the sport that brought her and Siy together — and carving sculptures out of hardwood.

“That afternoon was very emotional and many days have been since because it was a surprise. She was still carving that day. Her tools were in her hand when we were speaking. She had a chisel and mallet and was creating the next work of art,” Seymour said.

Finding the artist

Before Waters first picked up a set of sculpting tools 65 years ago, she was a writer pursuing a degree in literature from Stanford University. The Seattle, Washington, native had moved to the Bay Area with Phil Waters, her then boyfriend and future husband, who also studied at the prestigious institution.

The two went to different Seattle high schools but met when Phil Waters was in need of a date for a dance. The former football player had met Waters’s twin sister and when one of his teammates suggested they go on a double date, Phil Waters thought of Ruth.

The couple would spend the rest of their lives together in the Bay Area except for about seven years when Phil Waters’s government job transferred him to Michigan and then Washington D.C. Ruth Waters would go on to start a career in the newspaper business, working as an editor at a number of publications, before picking up work in art galleries while the couple lived in the state’s capital.

“She was a very outgoing person. She liked to meet people. That’s her thing and she’s very sort of forward and not pushy about it,” Phil Waters said, admitting to being more reticent about outings than his wife of nearly 68 years.

Two years after graduating college, Ruth Waters found her way to sculpture work, using the medium to further explore the human condition and connection. She’d go on to develop skills in sculpting bronze, marble, constructed room-size sculpture and painting.

Ruth Waters worked with her hands. Using a chisel and mallet, she’d sculpt away at stumps of hardwood from cherry and oak trees, typically opting against using some of the softer, more malleable options like redwood trees or pines.

Her work was laborious, meticulous. Once she achieved the abstract shape she desired of the hardwood, she would spend hours shaving away at its bumpy surface with sandpaper. She wouldn’t stop until the wood felt like silk to the touch. Ruth Waters wanted her viewers to connect to her art, to feel its energy.

“She wanted it to be touched. She didn’t want it to be looked at as a standoffish piece of art,” Siy said.

Her pieces would go on to be exhibited across the country and overseas — Seattle, Michigan, Washington, D.C., New York, China and Ireland have all been destinations. And she and her work was honored by a number of local leaders including as Woman of the Year by U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, and former state Sen. Jerry Hill.

Beyond connecting through art, though, Ruth Waters wanted to connect people in life. She spent the last 45 years of hers working to build spaces where artists can share their work with the community while also teaching her skills to future generations of artists.

She’s behind spaces like Belmont’s Twin Pines Art Center, the Peninsula Museum of Art and her most recent adventure, the Peninsula Art Foundation. The new space is located on the second floor of San Bruno’s Tanforan mall and was created in partnership with Seymour.

“Ruth is an amazing artist but she was also an amazing person. When she was teaching, it was not just about the carving. She’s teaching life lessons and that came through loud and clear,” Seymour said.

Carrying on the legacy

Her objective to connect people is what caused Siy to gravitate toward Ruth Waters and then Seymour. Siy first met Ruth Waters about 14 years ago when Waters joined Siy’s tennis team. Ruth Waters was an asset, having been a longtime long-distance runner who finished 16 marathons and an avid tennis player.

With Ruth Waters’ prompting, Siy would go on to help with fundraising and development for the Peninsula Museum of Art and brought people from their athletic world into Ruth Waters’s world of art. From there, Ruth Waters took Siy under her wing and supported her when Siy opened up her own art gallery in San Francisco’s SOMA district, SIY Gallery.

“She was my mentor. She created me. She created what I’m doing at this point in my life. She believed in me and wanted to never give up on creating a community that makes a difference,” Siy said. “We found each other. She was the mom I always wanted.”

Seymour’s introduction to Ruth Waters came just more than a year ago when he got the idea to use some of the empty space in the Tanforan mall as art studios and exhibits. After approaching mall management about the idea, he was told Ruth Waters had a similar suggestion. He said he immediately jumped in his car and drove to Ruth’s studio where they sat and talked about art for hours.

Neither Siy or Seymour ever worried whether Ruth Waters could handle a task. She was regularly seen lugging around large chunks of wood and leading tours. She was independent and never wanted to be treated as if she were inept. She wanted to work and did so up until the very end.

“She wanted to create a community of weirdos,” Seymour said. “She wanted the space to be inclusive with wide ranging artists of different disciplines. She would say, ‘I don’t want artists who just make pretty pictures.’ … She wanted to create a space where the public could come in and intersect with the artist.”

Seymour and Siy intend to continue Ruth Waters’s legacy. She and her work will be honored through an exhibit titled, Made with Serendipity, opening at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 18, on the second floor of the Tanforan Mall at 1150 El Camino Real. The exhibit will remain open through 4 p.m. every day and will come to an end July 20. Her art studio is on the same floor and can be viewed through a window, including her dusty bench and her most recent piece left unfinished.

A celebration of life will be held in the same location from 1-4 p.m. July 10. Those interested in honoring Ruth Waters’s life are encouraged to donate pieces of hardwood throughout the monthlong duration of the exhibit that her students may use to continue her work. Eventually, the duo said they would like to open a museum and working art studio in Ruth Waters’s honor where her work can be put on display and new artists can find a space to express themselves.

Waters is survived by her husband, three children and three grandchildren. A private funeral service will be held for the family.

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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