Ruth Shuman lives in one of the most singular apartments in New York, in part because her long-time friend, the well-known Italian designer Gaetano Pesce, gradually filled the space with his intensely original and seriously playful work. The apartment is also a visual essay in the uses of color, fittingly so because Ruth is the founder of Publicolor, an organization that runs a number of educational programs including its original program, which involves students in revitalizing their schools by painting stairwells, cafeterias and corridors in carefully considered color progressions.
In her twenties, she studied art history and architecture and went on to train as a designer at Pratt although she says she always wanted to work with underprivileged kids. Passionate and a born teacher, she is clearly driven by a determination not to squander all the potential she sees in the students who participate in the various clubs and after school programs offered by Publicolor– “As a country we are sitting on gold and we’re wasting it!”
You grew up in Canada—are you still officially Canadian?
I’m actually American—I decided to become an American citizen as well so that I could vote. My friends had convinced me that trying to change the vote of taxi cab drivers was not enough—I had to do more!
And what about art—had that always been in your life?
I grew up around good art—beautiful art. But actually I was always interested in architecture.
Did that come from your family background? Your family [the Bronfmans] built the Sears Tower in Chicago, didn’t they?
No. It came from Atlas Shrugged [by Ayn Rand] … I was in love with Howard Roark! No … no, not Atlas Shrugged, I mean The Fountainhead.
Oh, are you still in love with Howard Roark? I was in love with those books when I was sixteen but you’re supposed to grow out of them.
They absolutely captured my imagination for architecture and that has never left me.
Architecture is word—and I learned this from Gaetano [Pesce]—that you attribute to three-dimensional functional works of art in which people live and work. And there aren’t many. That was my love but my first love was working with—and in those days we called them “delinquent”—teenagers. And my father talked me out of it because he thought I would be such a pushover for these kids. He was right.
Because you’re a softie?
Yes. But I don’t come across that way. And I’ve learned from my [Publicolor] colleagues that I’ve got to honor the boundaries that they set and I can never undo them and I do respect that. And I’m very happy that they set the boundaries because it would be very hard for me. In the first years [of Publicolor] it was hard not to want to open my home to the kids.
Now I know that you were initially involved in the beginnings of The Big Apple Circus—what did you like about the circus?
It’s a non-elitist art form. I loved it! I met the two guys who started it, Paul Binder and Richard Levy, and I thought, these guys have ideals but they’re not starry-eyed idealists who are not going to make this happen—they’re going to make it happen. I love when people do.
What were their ideals?
They had a vision of a European-style one ring circus which relied heavily on all kinds of creativity and superb technique. The acts played on your imagination—no props, no sets, no lavish costumes.
[Sian] It was where all us Jews went with the kids on Christmas Day—The Big Apple Circus.
[Laughs] I didn’t know that! That’s hysterical!
Can you talk a bit about the beginnings of Publicolor?
The Circus had an arts and education program and I was very interested in that so I went out to visit some schools and I was just astonished. They were so prison-like!
I know people might defend those drab colors as practical but I can’t help thinking they’re there to impose authority.
Oh, no question.
I mean we don’t paint prisons bright colors, do we? It seems deliberate in some way.
There is a school of thought that absolutely believes what you just said but I don’t know if it’s deliberate or if custodians can just get these horrible paints for very cheap.
There seems to be a fear of frivolity, a fear of conveying a sense that it is a place that doesn’t take things sufficiently seriously.
I just saw that there was a major disconnect between this very disrespectful environment and our expectations of excellence from teachers and students. Being a typical Aquarian, I live in the future and I thought, we’re going to be a third-world country if we don’t capture these kids. I wanted to put a paint brush in the hands of disaffected students, let them paint their schools and, first of all, their schools will look beautiful, second of all they’ll develop a sense of pride in ownership and they will start showing up.
What are your ideas about color?
I think of color as music. If you’re going to do a school you want to do it in a visually stimulating and not at all in an aggressive way. I didn’t want it to look harsh. When we go into a school now, I always have a color workshop as my introduction to Publicolor and I teach the kids about color as visual language. I made up this game where they connect words with colors and they explain. Then I give them hundreds of color chips and we challenge them to put these colors together to create what I call “color chords” – harmonious color chords. And I will show them examples of what works and what doesn’t work.
Are there favorite colors? Does everyone always want red?
First of all I don’t use red—it’s too aggressive. I will use a pinky-red but I won’t use a fire-engine red, no. In Newark, which was the second school we ever did, I used this beautiful yellow-green, which I adore and a lot of the kids hated it—hated it! So I had to change it.
They just told you?
Yes! Are you kidding?! They said, “What are you doing to our school?!” There’s this blue, which is kind of a lavender-y blue and they looove it! Now with that I can put this yellow-green but they’ve got to get this blue.
So you negotiate like this with every school? Do they all have strong opinions?
I’d say they do. Which is wonderful. I negotiate … but they’re getting better. The members of the Paint Club take a vote and we vote for the eight to ten most favorite combinations. And then we take a school-wide vote.
[Lesley] I once worked at the Oslo Peace Research Institute—bear in mind that it was an organization dedicated to conflict resolution—and they had been fighting for five years about what color to paint the exterior building, a grim, grey building—I still don’t think it has been painted.
That’s interesting. When I was in the schools full-time they’d stop me in the halls and say, “Miss, what are you putting all those f—ing colors in our school for?” And I would say, “Do you know how much that company that owns Skittles pays to do a market research to figure the colors with the highest eye-appeal? I bet they pay $50 000!” And they would say “Wow!” That was what convinced them. At one point they were really going at it and I got a little preachy. I said, “Look guys, did you participate in the Paint Club?” And they said no, so I said, “Well, without responsibility, you don’t get privilege. So you gotta keep that [mouth] shut.”
It is very telling that they have these responses—it shows how much effect color has on people.
I love it! Love it! You have no idea how many letters we’ve gotten from principles saying “You’ve just changed the whole tone here! And we love how you created community! My school feels safer.”
What have you learned from your long relationship and friendship with [the Italian designer] Gaetano Pesce?
Oh my God … so much. I really know to put my actions where my heart is. I learned that from my mother and I also learned that from him. He deepened my belief in the power of color to transform attitudes and behavior. He has a much more sophisticated sense of color than I do – or maybe it’s just different. I don’t know. He reinforced what I knew about using color as a visual language.
Do you have the energy for this work every day? You’re so passionate about it.
I have to take breaks. I really go on empty. At the end of August I was on major empty—major. But … I don’t’ know … I feel my energy coming back now.
What do you do for a break?
I go out to Colorado and I hike and I paint. And I love my dinner parties. I love having friends over. I love mixing them up. To me it’s like mixing colors.
