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Lena Ruth

@lenactivity

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Artist ..and on occasion..singer.

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The Frog (as seen by @dilmar.mauricio ) My very first puppet, worn while crabwalking (and singing).

Frogs are bio-indicators, their skin permeable to water, air, chemicals. Their vulnerability and porosity makes them storytellers, symbolic of our changing environment. Their very existence is a message.
On the frog (woven on a TC2 loom) is a collage of blurred cellular structures of cockroaches, earthworms, tadpoles, and frogs. There is also a pattern of Chytridiomycosis fungus, considered one of the causes of the worldwide decline in amphibian population. The reversed body distorts the eye, revealing a creature who is herself unbalanced: timid, searching, trying to understand. by @lenactivity

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2 months ago

Some stills from my thesis exhibition - Behemoth -

“You must love to mourn” the frog croaked

📷 @jillalevine by @lenactivity

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6 months ago

This is my moose husk. A contemplation on extinction. The moose is bowing, headless, and like a ghost, able to be walked through, allowing you to be immersed, digested in a belly or cave. The undulating patterning is inspired by tick infestation. The gesture is a symbol of acquiescence, of reverence. This creature is stoic, dominant, waiting, but surrendering all the same.

What is gone persists to be felt, haunting, echoing

It took a long time to make this work, many days and nights of cardboard pulping. losing steam and carrying on. Thank you to those who helped with transporting it!

I’ll share more about the frog suit soon!

From my thesis exhibition - Behemoth -

made with wood, chicken wire, pvc, cardboard, glue

#sculpture #moose #cardboard #pulp by @lenactivity

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6 months ago

My thesis exhibition - Behemoth - opens next week March 18-21 with an opening reception on March 20th 5-8 pm. performance at 6:30 pm. This process has been so challenging/overwhelmingly/exciting. Come see the largest work I’ve ever made and hear me sing a frog’s mourning song.

Temple Contemporary
2001 N 13th St, Philadelphia, PA 19122

Gallery Hours are 11-6 by @lenactivity

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7 months ago

Chimes Horse. I have been pondering hollowness, prehistoric instruments, and resonant chambers. I’m making ghosts, creatures to commune with, to cultivate a ceremonial sense of care in reckoning with a reality too large to grasp. The grief of extinction. Ever more palpable by the day.

I want to invite you all to my thesis exhibition that will be March 18-21 with an opening reception Friday, March 20th 5-8 pm, at Tyler School of Art & Architecture (2100 N 13th St. Philly, PA.)
I’ll also be performing a short piece during the duration of the show 🐸

And sharing the stage with three extraordinary artists @_willgrimm_ @maryjchampagne @laura.sallade

Each show a different realm to step into, materiality galore

The piece is ceramic, steel, wool, cast iron
My first time welding! Thank you to all the friends that helped me wrap my head around this new material!
📸 @jillalevine by @lenactivity

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8 months ago

Really excited to share my New Body in Unbound: a group show at @automat_collective opening tomorrow evening 6-9!
Come see what a year of crocheting can look like

AUTOMAT Collective, 1400 N. American St., Philadelphia, PA. The exhibition will be on view from December 6, 2025 through January 24, 2026. Gallery hours are Saturdays from 12-5pm, or by appointment.

@charles.jarboe.art
@christenbaker_
@echooo_xu
@_emilyloughlin
@sonofcook
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@maryjchampagne
@noah_mcwilliams_art
@s0lk1m by @lenactivity

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10 months ago

I’m pleased to present Dead Skin, the first exhibition Curmudgeon will be exhibiting as a partner at Nine @ni____________ne
  The show celebrates Halloween and features eight artists from NYC and Philadelphia whose work embraces the spooky 🎃

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 25 · 6–9 PM 9 Monroe St, Basement, New York, NY 10002

Featuring:  Cait McCormack @mister_caitlin  Feather Chiaverini @feather_chiaverini   Kate Alboreo @kalboreo   Rachael Henson @romo_goth   Patrick Bower @patrickbowerart   Mike Estabrook @cat_the_sanguine   Hannah Antalek @hannah_antalek   Ari Zuaro @oatsntats

Curated by Lena Ruth Schwartz (@lenactivity) and myself!

P.S. Costumes are encouraged by @lenactivity

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a year ago

My newest material exploration has been cardboard pulp paper mache. Its woody texture and tactile possibilities are infinite. This piece- currently in the fibers display case- was influenced by empty husks or seed pods. A ghostly vestige or a hollow soul socket
📦📦📦📦📦📦📦📦📦📦📦📦📦📦📦
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Lena
@lenactivity by @lenactivity

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a year ago

🦇 hello0o my name is Lena Ruth Schwartz and I’m a second year fiber & material studies grad! 🦇
This is my Instagram takeover leading up to an artist talk on Oct. 14 in fibers classroom.

My work takes on forms of fiber frenzy~ intuitive crochet and wet felting layered with ceramics, sound, and performance. I’m interested in mythologizing biological systems through surreal anatomical play, addressing the collective and existential grief of living on a dying planet. by @lenactivity

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a year ago

Goats are ruminants- meaning their stomachs are separated into four chambers,
.Four stomachs needed to digest all this bullshit. 🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐
Maybe one of these pieces will come into play during our opening set for @unheardofensemble @gowanusdredgers on Friday, Aug. 1, 8 pm , 2 19th Street Bk 11232 ?? We’ll see

Influenced by Mesopotamian goats, Albrecht Dürer and Hans Baldung witch prints, and Francisco Goya of course

📷 by @kait.schnorbus for the wearable art show at @tylerfibers by @lenactivity

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a year ago

Cultural Ecologies Show, August 1st at 8PM! We are excited to have @lenactivity joining us with @evanoadams to play an opening acoustic set featuring music from her album Hold My Threads.

Hold My Threads is a collection of songs about healing, highways, dinosaurs, moping, the kickstart of a restart, and the ever-evolving way we see ourselves. An ode to our sensitivities, perseverance through pain, and to the surmounting anxiety over barreling fascism and the disregard of climate change.

Reservations via Eventbrite (in bio)
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Lena Ruth is a mixed-media artist and singer from NYC. She delved into tapestry weaving in college, but over the years developed repetitive strain injuries in both of her hands, ceasing to be able to play music or make art for over a year. During this time, she began to work towards honing and developing her voice as a songwriter, expressing anxiety and perseverance through anatomical pain.
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#gowanus #brooklyn #nyc #multimedia #contemporary #music #gowanuscanal by @lenactivity

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a year ago

🪲My first combination of crochet and ceramics🪲Noisemaking anatomy and the gasp of extinction. There’s a sound underlying the piece made of mimicry of birds and bees awash in my human long notes. The human vocal cords fitted to a bird’s syrinx. by @lenactivity

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2 years ago