Eleanor Rufty’s exhibition record consists of nineteen solo and over fifty-five group exhibitions, mainly in the mid-Atlantic area, but including several national and two international shows. Rufty was awarded a mid-Atlantic National Endowment for the Arts Regional Fellowship in 1994, was chosen Virginia Artist of the Year by the Richmond Women’s Caucus For Art in 1995, received the Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts in 2002, a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship and the Sweet Briar Fellowship for The Creative Retreat at Mt. San Angelo in 2006 and 2007 respectively. Since 1985, she has designed costumes for dance in collaboration with choreographers Chris Burnside and Laura Schandelmeier. She taught classes in painting and drawing at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Studio School from 1973 to 2007. Rufty’s paintings and drawings are included in nine public/corporate art collections and numerous private collections, including those of many artists, novelists, and poets.  

Photo by Jason A. Carlyon