Garrett DeRuiter
Garret W. DeRuiter, 72, of Charleston died Tuesday (May 1, 2012) at his residence.
Mr. Garrett DeRuiter held both a Bachelor of Arts in Design and a Master of Fine Arts in Art from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. While a student at SIUC, he studied under Harold Cohen, originator of SIUC's Department of Design and R. Buckminster Fuller. He was also one of the first students of Brent Kington, professor of art and former director of the School of Art and Design. Mr. DeRuiter initiated the Brent Kington Metals Scholarship Endowment Fund.
Mr. DeRuiter served on both the SIU Alumni Association Board of Directors and the former College of Communications and Fine Arts Alumni Society. He was a Distinguished Member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths, and served both on its Board of Directors and as its Newsletter Editor. He was active with the American Crafts Council. He was a professor of art at Eastern Illinois University, where he has also served as the corrdinator of the art department's graduate program.
Professor DeRuiter taught at EIU where I took my first Metals course. David Griffin was my professor for Jewelry and Metalsmithing at the time, but Garrett would often be found hanging out around the studio and in the hallways of the Art Building. I spoke to Dave today and I was sad to hear the news. My thoughts are with the DeRuiter family.
The Chasing textbook by Marcia Lewis has a short section on Fibulae by him and the picture above was taken from that book.
l to r: Richard Mawdsley, Garrett DeRuitter, Mike Croft, Bill Freeman, Stanley Lechtzin, Nilda Getty, 1970
l to r: Steve Walker, Jim Wallace, Bill Leth, Liza Littlefield, L. Brent Kington, Daryl Meier (MA degree), Paula Garrett, Garrett DeRutter
1 comment:
Dear Frankie,
Thank you so much for the wonderful tribute to my father. He will be greatly missed. We smiled at the pictures you included.
Sincerely,
Margaret Combs and the DeRuiter family
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