Born in Marquette, Michigan, William Rugen spent 20 years working as a fisheries oceanographer. After making a clean break in 2007 he has made a living working as a photo assistant, producer and photographer, most recently with Motofish Images in Seattle. In 2008 he hit the road with 3 cameras, one month of free time and absolutely no plans other than to stay off the interstate and avoid chain restaurants and motels. This trip was the impetus of his first fine art project, “Western Dioramas”, a continuing survey of the American West. Since then William has pursued a wide variety of fine art projects, most of which were conceived while on the road working on “Western Dioramas”. The look and process for each project is driven by the subject matter with the use of color and strong graphic elements being the only common thread. All projects are open-ended and hopefully will never be finished.
