Ruth THREADGOLD.
Exploring the Unspoken in Paint
Ruth Threadgold is a self-taught German Painter in Boise whose intuitive, emotionally charged works invite viewers into the quiet spaces between thought and feeling. Working with ink, acrylic, and oil sticks, she captures the subtleties of human experience—the unsaid, the felt, the judged but unspoken. Her approach to painting is both deliberate and organic: sometimes letting gravity and the laws of nature shape the composition, allowing paint to move as substance and energy rather than just color.
Her abstract pieces often echo the internal landscapes of reflection, conflict, and calm, leaning into texture, movement, and space to evoke a deeply personal yet universal resonance. Ruth’s work lives in the in-between—between clarity and ambiguity, between idea and emotion—with a hopeful undercurrent that reminds us: despite its contradictions, the world might just be okay.
Artist’s Story
My family had nothing to do with art, but they had a friend who was a hobby painter and I loved to be around him and watch him painting. Because there was no encouragement from my parents and I did not trust my creative talent, I played it safe and went to college and became a research Assistant at the University in Berlin in Psychiatry.
But I still was very much into Art and felt very influenced by “die jungen Wilden” in the 80ties and of course Matisse and Kandinsky. During this time I painted on and off, more as a hobby. When coming to California, Berkeley, with Eric, my husband, I fell in love with Richard Diebenkorn, who became a serious influencer for me.
When I got serious with painting I noticed that nature is the best painter. So I started to work with water, ink and acrylics to get as much natural flow in my paintings as possible. I start with a white canvas, make no drawings beforehand and don’t know what the result of the painting will be. I do try to paint as thin as possible so that the colors can shine through.
In my work I try NOT to think about what people are thinking. My biggest challenge is that I fall too often with other artists work in love and therefore get distracted from developing my own personal style.
Living in Boise taught me that we artists are so influenced by the natural environment, I adore the love for nature in local artists. So I see a lot of trees and hills in all colors and shapes when I am in a local gallery. In european galleries emphasis is more on expression of the inner voice or emotions for the better or worse.
When I don’t paint, I love to get to know the world, I traveled a lot, when very young. End of 60ties I travelled to Afghanistan, Iran and Nepal by VW Bus, but still today I am excited to check out the most rural places of the world.
A maybe unexpected side of me is my approach to see the world: it is my deep conviction that we are all one, only separated through a body.
Ruth Threadgold
“Sometimes my paintings come out with more density than I hoped for. Probably I have experienced so many human contradictory emotions and layers in people and myself which during my life time which are now reflected in these paintings”