Ruth Burton holds both a Master of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Northern Illinois University.  For fifteen years she directed a college Art Department and gallery and held the rank of Full Professor.  She has received two National Endowment to the Arts awards and her work has been exhibited in many one woman shows, juried into many group shows and represented by several galleries.  In 1994, she was given the rank of Professor Emeritus in order to create art on a full time basis.

Ruth is known for her large textural paintings done with a knife as well as her smaller more sensitive nudes and landscapes.  Her bronzes are the result of sculptures first made of clay or of wax.

She has been a resident of Texas since 1994.  As well as having studios in Texas, she and her artist-sculptor husband Jim have summer studios in Wisconsin and enjoy working and exhibiting together.  Her work is in galleries in Minnesota and Texas.