Exhibit Info

Stephen Bach

What started as a one-night free-lance job in 1984 for Orlando-based artist Stephen Bach turned into an unexpected adventure and career that spanned 15 years, traveling to all 48 contiguous states, and amassing three million airline miles. That seemingly innocuous job, painting an iconic Italian countryside in a Daytona Beach Olive Garden restaurant, so impressed then-General Mills Restaurants executives that Mr. Bach was retained to repeat his artistry in all of their nearly 500 other locations. In 1999, however, he made the decision to transition to a full-time career in fine art painting and opened his studio at the well-known McRae Studios, then in Winter Park, Florida. In recent years, Mr. Bach has exhibited his work at some of America's most respected art fairs, including St. Louis and Denver's Cherry Creek. His work is represented by Miller Gallery (Cincinnati) and Bennett Galleries (Nashville), among others.

Working exclusively in oils, and often with a touch of impressionism utilizing a soft, but luscious, color palette, Mr. Bach continues to reinvent himself with each painting. Often incorporating early morning or late evening light, his sometimes dramatic and always highly detailed cloud and sky structures never overwhelm nor compete with the rest of the piece, but rather complement the fundamental tranquility and peacefulness for which he successfully strives. In describing his own work as “tonal,” and his time studying at the prestigious Pratt Institute as “exposure therapy,” Mr. Bach goes on to say, “An artist grows until he stops working. And an artist should never stop being influenced.” When he's not painting, he enjoys walking, kayaking, and traveling. Mr. Bach resides in downtown Orlando.

Ruth Grim

Ruth Grim has devoted her life to the arts. After earning her BA in Art History in 1984, Ms. Grim went on to earn her MA in 1987. Her first major appointment, as Chief Curator at Miami's Bass Museum of Art, involved researching and developing exhibitions, researching works in the museum's collection, and writing grants to fund exhibitions and art conservation programs. Among the more than 30 exhibitions Ms. Grim curated at the Bass was Promises of Paradise: Miami Mid-Century Architecture and Design, which went on to become one of the most well attended exhibitions in the history of the museum.

After almost 20 years at the Bass, she accepted the position of Curator of Exhibitions at the world-class Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, where, among other responsibilities, she oversaw the management of more than 18,000 pieces of art in the Appleton's permanent collection. Always seeking a new and different challenge, in 2016 she was asked to become Chief Curator at the Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Science, where she remained until 2022 to enter retirement. Retire, she could not, and today she serves as Guest Curator at the Ormond (Beach) Memorial Art Museum, and has been giving art history lectures and guided bus tours to museums around the state.

Her experience is not limited to the world of museums, however. Over the years, she has accrued a reputation for being a fair and impartial juror, having judged art shows and competitions around the state and beyond. Utilizing her keen sense of excellence in the arts, she applies those same principles to the art she sees “on the street.”