About the Artist

Ruth grew up in South-eastern Idaho where she graduated from Ricks College (now BYU-I) with an art degree. Ruth studied at BYU-Provo earning a BFA in graphic design. She is primarily a watercolorist specializing in contemporary realism. Nichols teaches drawing and painting at Tooele High School and was the Utah High School Art Educator of the the Year in 2019. She has exhibited her pieces at the SMA Spring Salon multiple times and continues to win awards at shows and exhibits with her detailed paintings. Her painting subjects include clotheslines, trains, bits and pieces of vehicles and interesting architecture. She writes, “I believe that if we paint what we know, in the places we know, we have an authenticity about our work that speaks to others. I love painting things that are not obviously beautiful. Rusted metal and shiny things are favorites.”

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