Radford's Tyler Gallery to feature 'Starroot's Visions'
Three years in the making and 30 years after her first show at Radford University, “Starroot’s Vision” is set to welcome the public for an opening reception from 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
In the spring of 2023 Floyd visionary folk artist Starroot, aka Ruth Neumann, was invited to present a solo exhibition at the Radford University Art Museum’s Tyler Gallery (214 Tyler Ave in Radford). Three years in the making and 30 years after her first show at Radford University, “Starroot’s Vision” is set to welcome the public for an opening reception from 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
“I paint my dreams and visions and often integrate symbols of sacred world traditions. I was fascinated with Native American, Mayan, Huichol/Wixarika cultures and their art,” Starroot recently shared in a video filmed by videographer Robert Worle about her journey as an artist. The video and her book titled, “Starroot: A Visionary Artist’s Journey of Love and Light,” were created in preparation for her upcoming show, and both include color spreads of her work.
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Born and raised in Germany, Starroot came to the U.S. with her two young children in 1986. She experienced a series of synchronistic events that led her to what she refers to as her “forever home and community” in Floyd County. Although she kept an art journal sketchbook as a student, she did not intend to be an artist. She was trained as a music therapist for children and worked as a kindergarten teacher and a child therapist.
Art has been a gateway to healing for Starroot, who also writes poetry and songs and performs in bands. In 1992 while she and her late husband were settling into their newly purchased 100-acre Floyd County property, Starroot became ill and was bedridden. Her husband bought her paints and paintbrushes and encouraged her to paint. Her first foray into painting, which included bold images of spirit beings such as aliens, angels, fairies, and totem animals, was prolific. She hasn’t stopped painting since then.
In 1996 Starroot participated in an art show at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke. Her entry was a colorful painting of a great cosmic locomotive going through space. In her auto-biographical book, she writes about being disappointed that her painting didn’t win a prize.
“When I walked back to my painting, I saw two official looking men standing there, studying my art in detail,” Starroot wrote. “They introduced themselves as the Radford University Art Department Director Arthur F. Jones and the director of the art museum there. Jones said, ‘Starroot, in our eyes you really won, you are the only artist exhibiting here who will be known into the future’.”
Today, her paintings can be found in numerous private and museum collections, including the Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.
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Jones, who Starroot credits with discovering her, invited her to do her first show at the Radford in combination with an exhibition of Huichol/Wixarika art from Mexico, to speak at a symposium as a Huichol/Wixarika related artist, and to teach a class about her visionary approach to art. Jones was keenly interested in self-taught, outsider folk art, Starroot remembered. He had been attending her shows before they met that day in Roanoke.
In 1999 Starroot suffered a serious back injury and was again confined to bed. She practiced healing rituals and was able to paint her way back to health. “While bedridden, I finished 20 paintings, a collection I called, “Amanita Spirit,” another episode of painting therapy for my healing,” she wrote in her book.
Starroot, who paints primarily in acrylic on canvas or wood, doesn’t have a studio. She paints wherever she is. “I’ve always painted what comes through for me without studying art,” she said. She described how in the early days of her journey as an artist, she painted 10 hours a day because a collector was purchasing her spirit animal paintings, and it was how she made her living. “Today I paint when I have the intuition,” she said.
"Starroot’s Vision" at Radford University will run until Nov. 14. It will include many of her large, original paintings requested by the show’s curators, as well as new work. Starroot noted that she is grateful for her show curators, who have been working with her on exhibition design and installation every step of the way. They include Steve Arbury, Professor Emeritus of Art History at Radford University and a past Art Department Chair and curator of the RU Art Museum; John H. Bowles, art curator and collector and co-founder of Radford University’s Selu Conservatory; and David Anderson, a professor of Mayan culture.
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Although Arthur Jones passed away in September 2025, he was involved in the initial idea of Starroot’s solo show and chose some of the paintings to feature. The show will include a dedication to Jones. A Wixarika/Huichol show of indigenous yarn paintings will be exhibited at the nearby RU Covington Museum.
“As long as I live and can move my hands and fingers, and my imagination remains, I plan on continuing to create art and music for healing and visions for a happier, healthier, peaceful world,” Starroot concluded in her book.
Note: Starroot’s colorful and whimsical art is currently displayed at the Soda Fountain ice cream shop of the Floyd Country Store. She is a regular at the Friday Night Artisan Market, selling original paintings, prints, t-shirts and postcards at the downtown Floyd Pavilion, and maintains Starroot’s Wonderland vendor stall at Chic’s Antiques and Variety Store at 125 W. Main St. Floyd. For more information, check out her Facebook page and webpage at www.starroot.com.
(Left) Starroot’s paintings are currently on display at the Floyd County Store’s Soda Fountain and Ice cream Shop. (Right) An example of Starroot’s artwork titled 'Deer Spirit Transforming Sky Scrapers.' Photos by Colleen Redman
