Rebecca Rutstein featured in Philadelphia Style article
State of the Arts: The Visionaries Leading the Cultural Conversation
December 2025-January 2026
For Philadelphia-based artist Rebecca Rutstein, the natural world is both muse and collaborator. A multidisciplinary talent whose work spans painting, sculpture, video and monumental public art, Rutstein transforms scientific data and elemental phenomena into immersive visual poetry. Through her collaborations with scientists across the globe, she invites viewers to see – and feel – the invisible systems that sustain life on Earth.
“It comes down to a genuine curiosity about the world,” she says. “The more I learn about the natural world, the more I’m struck by how interconnected it all is.” Over the past decade, Rutstein has joined oceanographers, microbiologists, and geochemists on expeditions at sea – descending more than a mile below the surface in the submersible Alvin. Her 64-foot installation, “Shimmer,” permanently housed at the Georgia Museum of Art, was inspired by the bioluminescent dance she witnessed in the deep. “Most people will never see the deep ocean with their own eyes,” she explains. “I wanted to share that moment of awe – the dancing lights in complete darkness, like stars underwater.”
Read the full article publised in the December 2025/January 2026 issue here.