Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Rippon (Ruth) papers
MSS 2017/16
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
California State University, Sacramento Donald & Beverly Gerth Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Rippon (Ruth) papers
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 2017/16
Physical Description:
11.5 Linear Feet
(6 record cartons, 1 OS box, 2 Flat File Folders)
Date (inclusive): 1943-2018
Date (bulk): 1960-1980
Abstract: The Ruth Rippon papers contains letters/correspondence, exhibit documents (announcements, programs, pamphlets, foam mounted
items), newspaper articles, publications, photographs, negatives, print sheets, slides, handwritten notes, sketches, drawings,
sketchbooks, scrapbooks, gradebook, yearbook, certificate, poster, and thesis on R. Rippon relating to the life and work of
the American ceramicist and sculptor.
Language of Material:
English
.
Collection contains the papers of American ceramicist and sculptor Ruth M. Rippon. The papers document Rippon's artistic process,
exhibitions, and sculptural work. Contains letters/correspondence, exhibit documents (announcements, programs, pamphlets,
foam mounted items), newspaper articles, publications, photographs, negatives, print sheets, slides, handwritten notes, sketches,
drawings, sketchbooks, scrapbooks, gradebook, yearbook, certificate, poster, and thesis on R. Rippon.
Ruth M. Rippon was born in Sacramento, California in 1927. She attended McClatchy High School and studied at Sacramento Junior
College from 1945 to 1947. She received a Bachelor of Education (1949) and Master of Fine Arts (1951) from California College
of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts).
Rippon is an artist, ceramist, sculptor and educator known for her innovative and versatile range, form and subject matter,
most notably her unique adaptation and application of the sgraffito-through-engobe technique to ceramics. An integral contributor
to the Northern Californian Ceramic Arts Movement of the second half of the 20th Century, her accomplishments as an artist,
teacher, and gallerist were celebrated by the California Arts Council in the summer of 2008 with its "Artist of the Year"
award.
As the first female faculty of the Sacramento State Arts Department, and during her 31-year tenure (1956 to 1987), Rippon
established the ceramics department and became a leading mentor to generations of Sacramento State student artists working
in clay. Upon retirement, she was conferred both Emeritus status and the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts by California
State University. The Ruth Rippon Ceramic Scholarship Endowment is a $1,000.00 award offered once a year to an outstanding
Undergraduate Art major or classified graduate student in Studio Art who shows promise in making ceramic art a career.
Rippon is a prolific artist with multiple works installed on the CSUS campus, throughout Sacramento, and beyond. She is a
founding member of the Creative Arts League Sacramento (CALS). In 2017, at the age of 90, she was featured by the Crocker
Art Museum showcasing 90 pieces from the 1950s through the 1990s called Exuberant Earth: Ceramics by Ruth Rippon.
Collection is open for research. Some restrictions may apply.
Copyright is protected by the copyright law, Chapter 17 of the U.S. Code. Requests for permission to publish, quote, or reproduce
from collections must be submitted in writing to the Head of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives.
Permission for publication is given on the behalf of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Library,
California State University, Sacramento as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include permission of the
copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
[Identification of item including date], MSS 2017/16, Ruth Rippon papers, Department of Donald and Beverly Gerth Special Collections
and University Archives, The Library, California State University, Sacramento.
Processed by Kelli Kauffroath and Lynn Drennan April 2021. Materials from Ruth and her depositor were not in a predetermined
order or provenance. Collection Items were received from Crocker Art Museum following the Exuberant Earth Exhibit. While
many like items are grouped in folders, i.e. photos, sketches, and diaries, Crocker representative statements report there
is currently no order or provenance.
The Ruth Rippon collection is arranged into 7 Series which include: Biographical, Diaries, Sketches/Sketchbooks, Exhibitions,
Articles and Press, Photographs, and
Scrapbooks and Albums.
Additions were donated in 2018.