Collection Video: Ruth Mould's Mother Nursing A Baby

Ruth Mould was a notable Vermont artist who was born in 1894. After studying art at the Institute of Art in Saint Paul, Minnesota and the Art Student's League in New York City, she returned to Vermont in 1919 and taught art to students throughout central Vermont. She's known for her oil paintings and portraits of notable Vermont figures.
This painting is of Mrs. Clara Hopkins and is called Mother Nursing a Baby, which our former Director of Stewardship and Public Relations Tori Hart explains is a notable work because it shows it's not often you see a portrait of this nature: it's less formal and captures a brief, intimate moment between a mother and child.
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[@kathleenharris7893]

I was a personal friend of Ruth's when I lived in Morrisville as I taught English, history, advised the yearbook, and directed plays. I visited the Morrisville Library to borrow a book for a student who was interested in art. The librarian said you should meet Ruth Greene Mould and phoned her. Ruth told me to come to her studio. I did. She fixed lunch for me and lent me books her husband had given her for my student. She was a widow at the time. I sat for a portrait for her. She gave it to me and my husband, Everett, when we married. I have written a poem about her painting in the Fleming which I read before Covid.