Ruth Brown is a Vermont artist, mother, and a dedicated pillar to her community. I had the opportunity to interview Ruth on a Monday. We were just coming off a long boring weekend but Ruth was very kind and energetic, which really spoke to her character. I started off the interview with introductions and my normal sign-on. Then we got right into the questions. For this interview, I created questions about her artwork and some about her old position at MES. Ruth answered each question eagerly and with a ton of detail, which really helped me out as the interviewer and editor.

MY PROCESS:

We completed the interview via Google Meet, and I recorded the interview on my Chromebook through Soundtrap. I then transcribed the interview into words instead of audio. I shortened down the interview into what I believe to be the most important parts and wrote it into this article. This interview was possible due to the fact that Ruth had responded to a FPF posting. (Front Porch Forum.) Ms. Graham, my Journalism and Media Literacy teacher, had reached out to the community seeking folks that would be interested in being interviewed by a PA student. 

I was paired with Ruth and got to work on the questions. Down below you will find information about Ruth as a person, her artwork, and her experience at MES over the years. (Morristown Elementary School.) I, as the interviewer and editor, hope you the reader, enjoy this.

—

“I’m always feeling the hands of fabric even in my current job.” - Ruth Brown

—

Ruth Brown has a background in textile design and loves creating with fabric and she typically works with repurposed fabric, mostly men’s cotton shirts. I asked her how she got into this line of work and she responded that in high school she had design classes offered to her including Architecture. For an after high school plan, Ruth applied to Rhode Island School of Design. To the Architecture program. (RISD has a 19% acceptance rate.) She had originally got waitlisted and then got accepted in the spring! After spending some time in her program and working with the material she realized everything was 2-d and flat. She really liked working with 3 dimensional weaving. She then switched to Textile Design as her major.

Ruth has her own blog, which she started posting on in November of 2015. There, she shares photos of her creations and underneath those photos she discloses the sizes, what fabric she used, and sometimes she shares the purpose for the creation. One of her quilts was for her daughter. It had taken her some time to create it. Her daughter had graduated from college in 2016 and Ruth had the piece finished in 2020.  But all things take time!

WORKSPACE:

Ruth creates in her workshop, that's on the upper level of her house. She described it as a pretty small room. A 10 by 10. That doesn’t seem that small, but with all the fabric and machines she has in there, I am sure it feels pretty small. Ruth also has a ton of refurbished fabrics which seems to be overwhelming at times but it's also nice because she doesn't have to deal with the hassle of going out and shopping for new fabric which can be messy and expensive. Ruth tries to get into her workshop a few nights a week or sometimes on the weekends. She likes to create, whenever she can! “And one of the things that I have been very fortunate in is, I have been given a lot of fabric over the years. I always felt really overwhelmed while shopping for fabric and I still do, so that's another year as to why I love reusing and repurposing things.” - Ruth Brown.

MES EXPERIENCE:

Ruth was the Volunteer Coordinator for MES from 2006 til 2018. She dedicated around twenty hours a week and she got paid to organize volunteers and to sometimes pair them with students. “There were of course ups and downs that come with any job, but it wasn't complicated.” Ruth had said during the interview. “You just had to make sure you were doing things, in the right order.” The main volunteers would be parents or sometimes members from the community. They were needed for projects, community events, field trips, etc.

CONNECTION:

What I feel is the most important piece about this issue is that Ruth is relatable. Not only is her name my middle name, but I feel that the fact she decided to change her major in College is so relatable to young students. Teenagers are very impressionable and most of the time - unsure. 75-80% of students change their major at least once. And changing your major or college is so common but it's not really talked about. But it’s important to know that it isn't a bad thing to do. And while we didn’t talk too much about her experience at RISD, it's clear that she learned a lot, and has really figured out her love and passion for textile design. That was all possible because she had taken the step to switch her major. 

CREDITS:

We concluded our interview after twenty-two minutes. I ended the call with new knowledge about what exactly textile design is, what the volunteer coordinator does over at MES, and that great art takes time. I am proud that I can say that I learned new things, and hopefully from this article - you as the reader, did too.