Memorials

GAS Remembers Ginny Ruffner (1952–2025)

Ginny Ruffner accepting the 2019 GAS Lifetime Achievement Award in St. Petersburg, Florida

We are saddened by the passing of Ginny Ruffner, a truly visionary glass and mixed media artist who was awarded the Glass Art Society’s 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award. “Ginny Ruffner’s long career in glass is nothing short of inspiring,” said Brandi P. Clark, GAS executive director, “From her first lampworked sculptures to her innovative work with glass and Augmented Reality, Ginny was a pioneer in our community who will be greatly missed.”

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Ruffner graduated with honors from the University of Georgia with an MFA in drawing and painting. During her MFA program, Marcel Duchamp’s Large Glass, The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even (1915-23) inspired Ruffner to paint directly on glass to allow light through her paintings, thus sparking her lifelong career in glass. Like most glassmakers of her generation, Ruffner was self-taught. She began lampworking at a small shop in Atlanta and used her wages from that job to set up her own studio and begin experimenting with the material. Ruffner was an established glass expert specializing in lampworked boxes decorated with flora and fauna when she moved to Seattle in 1984 to be an instructor at Pilchuck Glass School. At Pilchuck, she was a modern Prometheus, introducing borosilicate to the campus and becoming the first woman to produce art glass sculptures in boro.

From there, Ruffner continued a prolific career spanning six decades with over 100 solo and group exhibitions, and her work is represented in over 40 museum collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY), the Corning Museum of Glass (Corning, NY), and the Seattle Art Museum (Seattle, WA). Ruffner’s work was characterized by her overwhelming curiosity about the world; many bodies of her work question “what if” as she imagined fantastical natural phenomena like “what if lightning bloomed into a flower?” She used her imagination to push the boundaries of material, combining glass with metal, drawings, Augmented Reality, pop-up books, and more.

As an early member of GAS, she presented at several conferences, contributed several articles about GAS to art publications, and served as GAS Board President from 1990–1991. In recognition of the innovation she brought to our community, Ruffner was awarded the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award at the GAS conference in St. Petersburg. During her presentation, she was joined on stage by longtime friend Laura Donefer as they provided an entertaining and broad view of Ruffner’s extensive career in glass. Ginny’s joie de vivre, determination, imagination, and passion will be missed.

Tributes from the Community

Ginny Ruffner and Laura Donefer
"Ginny...a genius, a free spirit, a kind, generous, lovely woman, an inspiration, a force to be reckoned with, a true artist from the inside out, a collector, a trailblazer, a visionary, a fabulous teacher, and a wonderful, wonderful friend to me and to many. We had lots of wild times together and long discussions and happy dancing! There was no one like Ginny! We used to call ourselves the Hair Twins. Ginny, you are forever in our hearts. What a huge loss for our community and the world."
Laura Donefer
"The global community of glass artists that GAS represents didn’t spring up out of the earth on its own. It was carefully cultivated by leaders like Ginny, who alongside her phenomenal contributions to the advancement of the material, prioritized service to crafting a community of free exchange and mutual support. Her work as a connector is reflected in the ways she extended opportunities to her fellow artists and served as GAS President during its early years of professionalization. Ginny’s works, both in museum display cases and in the bonds that unite the international community of glass artists, are eternal and deserving of our most profound respect."
Jennifer Hand
GAS Conference Manager
"Ginny brought contemporary lampworking/flameworking into the realm of art. In a 1989 article in Glass Line, she described lampworking as “…close to an invisible form of art, except to the people who are practicing it.” Ginny’s symbolic glass sculptures combining sandblasted borosilicate glass with colored paint, pastels, and pencils caught the public’s imagination and art critics’ acceptance. And she brought us, fellow glassmakers, with her. She shared her creative vision with her students and artists at Pilchuck, Penland, and the Glass Art Society...Ginny championed women at a time when being a woman in glass was challenging and even arduous. I met Ginny when she was doing research for her 1988 article, “Speaking of Glass,” in American Craft. She interviewed more than 30 sculptors, educators, critics, gallery owners and “interested bystanders” asking if there were differences between men and women glassmakers. Many of the quotes shown a light on sexual stereotyping that was typical of the field then. Ruffner concluded, “I was struck by the determination…of the women I interviewed…. I felt part of a community of isolated individuals…and I sighted the goal…. It’s out of my studio. It’s called perseverance, and I’m working on it right now.” This was a continuing theme in her life. She went on to establish SOLA (Support of Old Lady Artists) to honor mature women visual artists. Ginny, I will remember you when I’m reaching for perseverance, creativity, and friendship in my own life. And so will so many, many others you touched."
Beth Hylen
"[Ginny] was one of Pilchuck's best instructors and [one of the] most creative artists that I have ever met. Ginny was a pioneer in teaching flameworking in the 1980s and had a truly captivating personality. She just blossomed with so much energy, vivaciousness, love and good humor. She was so inspiring to be around and created a sense of community that was infectious. Ginny gave some of the funniest slideshow presentations I've ever seen and made us all laugh at the same time [she was knocking] us out with her creativity and narrative glasswork."
Ed Schmid