Ruth Ferguson (1963-2021): a remembrance by Professor Emerita Paula Murphy
| Ruth wouldn’t like the glowing report that I would want to give her. She just wanted to get on with things without anyone telling her how kind, how generous, how positive she always was; and how interested in anything that came her way, no matter how onerous, how intricate, – and presumably occasionally – how annoying! It was a delight to sit chatting with Ruth in her office in Newman House. If the conversation was mostly about art or strategy, it can’t ever be forgotten that Ruth was also great fun and loved to laugh. |
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She and I went back a long way. She was a young undergraduate student of Art History when I was a relatively young lecturer. Art History had small numbers of students in those days and firm friendships were formed in the department Reading Room and on student trips abroad. I encountered Ruth’s particular group of friends (BA 1988) – who had supported her throughout her long illness – when they gathered to say goodbye to her in December.
Ruth will forever be associated with Newman House, where she came via the National Gallery of Ireland’s education department, the Royal Hospital Kilmainham and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. As curator of Newman House and of the UCD art collection, she and I began to work on projects together. We shared a mission that the university’s administration would take art more seriously. This resulted in us persuading then president Art Cosgrove to establish a Visual Arts Committee which would oversee the place of art in the university – maintenance, location, expansion, exhibition, education, publicity.
Ruth, well connected from her time in IMMA, encouraged donations and loans to the campus. We established the first artist-in-residence – photographer Kate Horgan – resulting in a publication in 2000. We requested and were given a small fund to purchase new work to enliven the grey corridors of the buildings and had a thoroughly enjoyable time selecting work – mostly prints – for the campus in the various commercial galleries in the city. This became a popular activity as different departments began to request art works for their own spaces. That this committee was abolished by the Brady administration did not entirely stop us in our tracks. Our next project was the UCD Sculpture Trail in 2008. With much sculpture already in place on the Belfield campus and the grounds being widely used by walkers, it seemed like a good idea to give a focus to the ambulatory activity. Two Art History students researched the different sculptures after which Ruth and I drew up the trail guide – which has endured, been expanded and proved popular.
Ruth was always a huge supporter of and friend to her colleagues in UCD Art History, where she returned to undertake postgraduate work in 2001. Which of us in the School has not had a book launch, held a conference, given a lecture, had a temporary office in Newman House under the auspices of Ruth. We were all immensely fond of her and found it difficult to be in Newman House knowing she was no longer there. How much more difficult will that be now!