Ruffin’s artistic career, spanning over thirty years, has been shaped primarily, by a passion for metalwork.

Helping his family to restore old grist mills fostered Ruffin’s love of handcrafts. During the restoration and operation of the mills, a blacksmith shop was built to accommodate the need for ironwork. Ruffin spent his teen years forging iron into chandeliers, hardware, and fireplace items, later using that ability to create sculptures. Combining the qualities of linear forged bar steel with solid metal sheets enabled Ruffin to create forms with intriguing interactive spatial relationships.

While attending Guilford College in North Carolina, Ruffin learned welding techniques that led to working with hollow form metal sculpture. By creating a four-sided welded form out of individual metal sheets, he was able to fashion a solid three-dimensional shape. With this creation, Ruffin realized new direction in his sculptural pursuits.

Located in Alamance County on the site of historic McBane grist mill, that he continues to restore and call home, studio, and gallery, Ruffin forges distinctive gates, handrails, and tables. Other beautiful and imaginary creations include contemporary garden sculpture, wall murals, and intricate mobiles poised in flight.

Recently working in the realm of sculpture painting, Ruffin has created figures in relief, floated from a flat, two-dimensionally painted background. His use of real and imagined space provides new and exciting insight in Ruffin’s artistry.

EDUCATION:

Guilford College, Greensboro, NC BFA 1975
Independent Study in Florence, Italy 1972-1973

NON-DEGREE STUDIES:

Casting metal: University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC
Blacksmith apprentice: Williamsburg, VA
Designing and creating sculptures: Sarreid, Ltd., Wilson, NC
Guilford College independent study program in Greece, Turkey, and Italy

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:
 
Tri-state Sculptors Guild
International Sculpture Center
American Blacksmith Association
Chatham County Arts Guild
Alamance County Arts Guild

GALLERY SHOWS:

Turning Point Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC 2002 – 2006

Outdoor Sculpture Solo Exhibit, McBane Mill, NC 2005

Willow Walk, Burlington, NC 2005

Chatham Arts Tour, Chatham County, NC 2003 – 2005

Carteret Contemporary Gallery, Morehead City, NC 2003 – 2005

Fearrington Village Outdoor Sculpture Show, Pittsboro, NC 2002 – 2005

Critical Mass Outdoor Exhibit, Greensboro, NC 2001

Sandhills Sculpture Show, Southern Pines, NC 2001 – 2004

North Carolina Botanical Garden Show, Chapel Hill, NC 1999 – 2005

Princeton Tigers Unveiling, Princeton, NJ 2001

Garden Art Show, Chapel Hill, NC 2000

Fayetteville Museum of Art, Juried Show, Fayetteville, NC 1999

Ingram Judge Gallery, New Works Show, Nashville, TN 1998

Ambassador Gallery, Sculpture Vision Show, Soho, NYC, NY 1998

COMMISSIONED SCULPTURES:

 Large Bronze Sculpture, Town of Morrisville, NC 2006

Forged Iron Quail Gates/Table, Private Residence, Mebane, NC 2006/2007

Wall Mural, Private Collection, Chatham County, NC 2005

Large stabile, Private Collection, Chapel Hill, NC 2005

Mobile , Neuroscience Building, UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC 2004

Large Bronze Reclining Figure, Private Collection, Chapel Hill, NC 2003

Princeton Tigers, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 2001

Large Mobile, Greensboro Cultural Center, Greensboro, NC 2000

Mobile, Glaxo Corporation Library, Research Triangle Park, NC 1999

Wall Mural, Private Collection, Santa Fe, NM 1999

Mobile , Museum of Life and Science, Durham, NC 1998

Fountain Sculpture, City Park, Manhattan, NYC, NY 1997

Forged Iron Gates, Private Residence, Manhattan, NYC, NY 1997

Large Mobile, Kenan Oil Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC 1996

Wall Murals, Private Collection, Los Angeles, CA 1996

Balustrade, Carteret Contemporary Art Gallery, Morehead City, NC 1995

Abstract Sculpture, Lumberton Middle School, Lumberton, NC 1994