Ruth A. Keitz has been involved in art since elementary school. She participated in Saturday art classes at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, PA from fourth grade through high school. (Well-known artists who also participated in the Carnegie Institute program include Philip Pearlstein and Andy Warhol.)

After graduating with a BA in art from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, she studied with Kelly Fearing and Michael Frary at the University of Texas in Austin. After completing her MFA and PhD, she taught art in the San Antonio ISD. From there she went to the Anchorage (AK) School District as an art administrator and later an administrator in curriculum and instruction. Having also done adjunct teaching at several universities in Alaska, she returned to Texas and has been an adjunct instructor, administrator, senior lecturer, and instructor at various colleges and universities.

Her father, who ran a part-time business painting lines for parking lots and crosswalks and directional traffic arrows, claimed to have taught her how to paint while she worked for him summer evenings. Perhaps there is more truth than fiction considering the linear structure of much of her work and the recurring theme of night skies.

Her art work includes mixed media collages and constructions. The stuff of her art is as likely to be the discards of industrialization as the discards of nature. She enjoys the thing-ness, the uniqueness of objects and materials: texture, shape, color, contrast. All of her work uses an extensive mix of found materials.