Ruthmary Jackson is a professional artist/photographer and has earned awards in both areas.  She has participated in the South Dakota Masterworks competitions the past two years and was awarded in both acrylic painting and photography categories.  Arts Night at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls is a juried competition, the past two years she has been awarded acceptance with abstract photography.

Ruthmary has been a member of the American Iris Society most of her life, she continues to grow iris and takes awards in photography with her iris for the Society.
Earning awards at competitive Iris Shows with actual iris stalks and artistic arrangements with iris, is something she grew up learning from her mother and siblings.

As a founding member of EastBank Art Gallery since 2005, she finds the patronage of fellow member artists, community supporters of art in the Sioux Falls area and customers from around the world exciting and fulfilling to work with.

Since retirement from teaching High School Art at Brandon Valley for thirty years, she feels all mediums have potential.  Since becoming an EastBank Gallery member she worked in photography, eventually pushing her self to create more unique expression through abstract expressionistic photography of colored glass.  Recently, she chose the dry brush watercolor approach with a series of ten enlarged realistic butterflies.  Large abstraction subjects are now being considered.