Meet Our New Board Member – Eric Ruschman

We are thrilled to welcome Eric Ruschman, founder of the Ruschman and Ruschwoman galleries in Chicago, to our Executive Board. Eric comes with a strong understanding of Arts of Life’s programming, having curated All Well and Good at Circle Contemporary, collected the work of several AofL artists, showcased Christina Zion’s work in the inaugural exhibition at Ruschwoman, and served on our Art Committee. As an experienced gallery manager and owner, Eric also brings strong organizational skills and a creative streak that is sure to strengthen our board..

In our on-going conversation series, studio artists will interview new board members to introduce them to our community. Eric and studio artist Ted Gram-Boarini met on zoom this month for the latest installment.

Artist Ted Gram Boarini meeting with Eric Ruschman via zoom

TED: How did you find Arts of Life and why are you interested?

ERIC: I’m lucky to say that I kind of think the Arts of Life found me, and that was by way of Vincent Uribe [Arts of Life Director of Exhibitions and External Relations]. I’ve been in the art world as an artist, an art dealer, and I run a gallery now. I used to be the director of another gallery – the Shane Campbell Gallery – for eight years here in Chicago. Vincent invited me to come to studio visits. I was pretty interested in [Arts of Life]. When I lived in Cincinnati.I worked with similar organizations – Visionaries and Voices and then also Thunder-sky Incorporated – which were both programs that not only helped artists working with disabilities to have studio space and to make work but they have gallery spaces and exhibitions as well. So, especially when Vincent was starting Circle Contemporary, he and Erin Toale reached out to me to see if I wanted to come in and do studio visits. I was excited to kind of find Chicago’s version of something that has been a very intrinsic part of the way that I understand in our community within the city.

TED: I know Erin Toale too. She is a very close friend of mine. 

ERIC: I know that you do.

TED: How did you know Vincent? 

ERIC: That’s a good question. I think I went to a couple openings at LVL3. And then you know Vincent’s literally everywhere. Before the pandemic happened. you could go anywhere. and Vincent was there with a drink and kind of dancing in the corner a little bit. 

TED: Yeah! So why do you want to be a board member?

ERIC: I like to be involved and I had already been working on the Art Committee, helping to plan the auction and the fundraising gala annually. After doing that for a couple years, I was very interested in becoming more connected to the organization, figuring out what else I can do. I want to be involved but I also want to learn. It’s hopefully a kind of symbiotic relationship where I can learn more about you all and how Arts of Life functions, and then I can not only participate but bring my own kind of history and experience to see if we can kind of flesh out some things that have already been doing like super well, like the exhibitions at both gallery spaces. 

TED: I’m a part of the curatorial committee and also a part of the music aspect.

ERIC: Yes, you are. I’ve got questions about that.

TED: We’ll get to that. Have you worked with people with disabilities before?

ERIC: Yes, I have. As I said, I’ve worked pretty closely with Thunder-sky Incorporated in Cincinnati, Ohio, so I’ve worked with artists with disabilities and consider some of them my friends. I also curate them into shows. Antonio Adams [recently featured in Circle Contemporary’s Art Persona exhibition] is an artist from Cincinnati with a disability that I have kind of brought along and continue to include in a lot of group shows. I try to bring that work to other cities and other viewers that I think might like what he does. I like Antonio. I like Dale Jackson. I also collect their work. And even before then when I was much younger my mom was a special education teacher in public schools and Kentucky. She’d have anywhere between five or eight students working with various disabilities that she worked with from grade one through eight and they became close acquaintances of the family. So people living and working with disabilities have been an everyday part of my life since I was wee.

TED: I attended a virtual conversation with Antonio. He was in his studio and showed some of his work. Ok the next question was what are you passionate about?

ERIC: Gosh. There are so many ways I can answer this question. I am passionate about the social aspect of art. I think that is something I have continued to sort of learn about myself from when I was a kid taking art classes. I just needed a space to sort of escape from the all boys Catholic high school. I needed some weirdos to hang out with and art was a really good place to do that. And then I went to the Art Academy of Cincinnati and got a bachelor’s degree in fine art and painting and I worked with artist-run gallery spaces. That was all about showing and sharing art, bringing art in from out of town and showing it with local artists I like, and looking at the larger picture of what it means to put it together in a room to facilitate a very interesting group of people. I’m very passionate about that.

TED: That’s very well put.

ERIC: Thank you, sir.

TED: What kind of art do you like?

ERIC: I like a lot of art. I like art the most when it is both a little humorous and a little scary. I like when something draws you in because it’s cute or it’s brightly colored or it’s sort of funny, and then it kind of gives you a little heart tug, and then you look a little closer and it’s like ouch, but like a good ouch, you know. 

TED: I don’t make cute art. 

ERIC: You have some really good color choices that you use though. You’re working with a kind of color seduction and you’re drawing people in.

TED: Yeah! Do you have any new ideas you can bring to the table to help us grow?

ERIC: Here’s the thing, I want to say yes, sure, but also I really don’t want to presume to have understood all of the ideas that you already have had. So at the start, I’m very interested in getting to know where the conversations have been and where they are at now. I know everything’s constantly evolving so ideas we had two years ago that didn’t work might work now, or ideas that we had two years ago that were great don’t work right now. And so, I want to say yes because I have a pretty nice specific sort of experience in relation to the art world, based on everyone else that’s on the board, so I do think that there’s like a definite perspective that I can bring. My partner and I talk about this all the time – about what it means to have a new idea in 2022 and whether or not that’s even possible. We think most ideas are really just smoothed out a lot. Like a lot of ideas already exist, and you just kind of mix them up and you’re like yeah that’s like a delicious new idea.

TED: I am an ideas person. I’m intending to write a comic book based on my mom. She just passed away and I’m looking for someone to help with that. 

ERIC: That’s amazing. I love that. Great idea. The collaborations that I’ve seen so far are so well received. I was going to ask – do you write the lyrics for the band Van Go Go. 

TED: Yes, yes. I wrote a song about me moving out. 

ERIC: That’s awesome. I know you are supposed to be asking me questions but I wanted to ask you what you thought was similar about percussion and painting. You do percussion for the band right?

TED: Yes I do. Percussion and drums. Percussion is controlled. I am the driving force . 

ERIC: Cool. 

TED: Do you want to join Van Go Go?

ERIC: I am way too shy. I have to have a bunch of drinks before I can do one karaoke song. 

TED: I’m waiting for someone to accept [my invitation\ someday! Are you good at being a team player? 

ERIC: Yes, because I like control but not all the time. So there’s some days where I’m like, I love that I get to take control of this situation, but then another time I love to just let other people do stuff. Sometimes I can be very focused and like it needs to happen my way and then I can also be very lazy and I really like when other people take control of stuff.

TED: What things do you find easy and what do you find hard? 

ERIC: The things that I find easy are doing social things where we’re all on the same page. When we all have this vision and we all kind of share it. I also like doing really menial tasks. So in operating the gallery I have to do everything and sometimes I will shirk responsibility for important things because I just want to do data entry that day. Sometimes that’s comforting. I would say what’s really hard is for me to say no. I generally really try to be kind of a people pleaser and I’m very conflict averse. So drawing a line and saying that’s not gonna happen,  we can’t do that, that’s a no. Because no’s really shut people down and I’d rather frame it as an opportunity for something else that we can do rather than like a full stop. I find it hard to navigate that sometimes and so I put it off a lot. I need to find that person that just loves telling people no and hire them to say no. Then it’s done. Do you want to be my no man?

TED: No, I can’t. I am a yes man. Any questions for me?

ERIC: I was very sneaky and I tried to get them in while we were talking. I am very excited about this comic book idea. Let’s find a way to make that happen. 

TED: Yeah, I love comic books, Have you ever seen Big Hero Six? 

ERIC: Yes, I have. 

TED: I did a comic book that was based on that movie that was called Spark Boy. I think you can check it out online. 

ERIC: It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that movie. I do think that made me cry.

TED: Yeah. Well maybe I’ll see you at the poetry book reception. The exhibition is inspired by our poetry. Our fourth book in the series comes out on Friday. I think that’s our next in person thing. I will be talking about how we made the book and some people will be reading their poems. 

ERIC: Right off the presses, fresh. Hope to see you there Ted!

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