Ruth Leonela Buentello

San Antonio, Texas

Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.

About Ruth Leonela Buentello

Ruth Leonela Buentello received her Bachelors of Fine Arts at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008. Since graduating, she has exhibited her work in group exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA; the Museo Alameda, San Antonio, TX; Slanguage Studio, Los Angeles, CA; The University of Texas at San Antonio Fine Arts Gallery, TX; Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, TX; and Unit B Gallery, San Antonio, TX. In 2009, she founded the Mas Rudas collective in collaboration with like-minded Chicana artists. Through Mas Rudas, her work has evolved into socio-cultural examinations of Chican@ identity, cultural representations of gender, and the co-optation of Chican@/Tejan@/Latin@ history and culture. In 2010, she received an Artist Travel Grant from Artpace to study the art of Nikki de Saint Phalle in Italy and France. In 2011, she was chosen to participate in the Young Latino Artists 16: Thought Cloud exhibition at Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, TX. In 2012, she was a resident at Serie Project in Austin, TX. Ruth is a 2017 recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant. She served as the Community Mural/Public Art Program Coordinator at San Anto Cultural Arts for four years. Ruth is currently working on her own art projects, with a passion for empowering communities through the creation of her work, as public art.

Program Participation

Joan Mitchell Center Residency, 2019

Painters & Sculptors Grant, 2017

Website / Social Links

Through the use of paints and fabric, my work examines gender, culture, and place to capture narratives of Brown subjects and their relationships within domestic spaces. Through this medium, I am creating contemporary depictions of South Texas landscapes.”