Helene Ruiz was born in New York City January 15th, 1958 and has been drawing and painting since childhood. Her father was the major influence in her creative interests and he always encouraged her to express herself through her art.. He, being an artist himself, was her teacher, mentor and inspiration.
In 1973 Ms. Ruiz received a scholarship to a summer arts workshop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She had the opportunity to meet Salvador Dali in person while attending one of those classes, which helped to confirm her passion for surrealism.
She has exhibited her works in numerous shows from New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Two of those were solo exhibits, one in NYC and the other in Virginia.
In October of 2008 Helene Ruiz organized the Urban Individualists, an artists collective. This artist collective was born from the vision of Helene Ruiz, an artist who resides and works out of her apartment in the Bronx, NY. Her vision is to assemble a group of artists, both visual and performing, into a collective body.
This group represents a multicultural network of collaborating individualists cohesively working as a unit. Ms. Ruiz has worked long hours to link her dream to the aspirations of others.
The Urban Individualists believe that we can make an impact in art as a collective body, separated only by our distinct styles. We have a voice that needs to be heard.
In 2005 she received an artists grant from the Wheeler Foundation. In 2008 some of her works were published. One being "Life Lives Within" was published in "GAIIA THE LIVING PLANET" by redbubble, the other two entitled, "TICK TOCK" in "HEART AND SOUL" by younty younity and the other "THE HEART YEARNS" in "COMPASSION, COURAGE AND FRIENDSHIP" by redbubble.