James Ruddle

Students signing the outside of a box in the atrium of McMaster University Student Centre, inside which Ruddle was working

James Johnson Ruddle is a Canadian artist, born in Hamilton, Ontario, on July 8, 1981.^[1] Ruddle currently lives in Pickering Ontario and works in the medium of Performance art, Christian Art, sculpture and burn painting.^[2] While at McMaster University, as a third-year fine arts student, he lived in a box in the atrium of the McMaster University Student Centre.^[3]

In 2007, James began to work with a burn painting technique and was first shown at the AGH at an annual Art Sales and Rentals Show in 2008.^[4] In 2007, Ruddle spent three days painting inside the performance art cube in the foyer of Keswick High School.^[5] James began his journey into the realm of Christian art when he completed a 32 foot triptych mural titled The Light of This Broken World. The large burn painting, created through a process of burning the images onto wood using gasoline and a blow torch, was installed in the sanctuary of Forest Brook Community Church in 2010.^[6]

On March 31 2014, while teaching at Bill Crothers Secondary School he completed a 16 by 20 Foot mural of Wayne Gretzky with 12 grade 11 students in a style similar to Chuck Close. ^[7]

In 2015, Ruddle created a 6,000 square foot mural called Shifting Landscapes on a drab rail bridge at Henderson Avenue and Glen Cameron Road in Thornhill.^[8]

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