Deserrie Ruptash is a visual artist who returned to Vegreville after living in the United States for over 25 years. She is a painter, primarily working in oil. However, she also experiments with mixed media, assemblage and photography.

As a youngster living in Vegreville, Deserrie took many road trips to Edmonton to pursue training in competitive skating. She couldn’t sleep in the car. Instead she looked out the window mesmerized by the rhythm and movement of the passing shapes. Little did she know this planted the seed for all her explorations in her artwork.

 

Deserrie’s paintings explore shapes and patterns found in nature. She looks to simplify landscapes to abstract shapes, referring to her paintings as “Land Shapes”. Her paintings have been described as “organic” and her focus is to capture movement, rhythm and an emotional imprint of the scene unfolding around her.

Deserrie emerged as a visual artist during her twenty years living in New York City. She studied at Art Student’s League, New York Studio School, New York Academy of Art and Parson’s School of Design. She received a scholarship for a nine-week residency program at Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York. She also attended residencies in New Mexico and the Kootenay School of the Arts in Nelson, BC. Deserrie’s artwork has been featured on music CDs and posters for events. Her paintings can be found in private collections throughout the US and Canada, including
New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, Toronto and Edmonton.