Everett Ruess: Into The Wilderness

Eucalyptus Grove, Everett Ruess

March 19, 2014 - September 30, 2014

As part of our celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, the Wildling featured its collection of artworks by Everett Ruess (1914 – 1934?). Everett was raised in Los Angeles and was taught how to make linoleum block prints by his mother, Stella. At a young age he felt a strong calling to be in and explore the wild. He spent the last four years of his brief life exploring wilderness areas along the California coast, in Yosemite and the deserts and canyons of northern Arizona and southern Utah. He wrote letters and poems that were sent home and made drawings, watercolors, and block-prints along the way. At the young age of 20, Ruess disappeared. His last letters indicated that he was headed to Escalante Canyon, and investigators looking for him months later found evidence that he had been there but, to this day, his remains have yet to be found.