Culture // 1 min Read

Local Character: Ruth Ann Terry

Written by Palmetto Bluff

At Palmetto Bluff, we put faith in good people, and we take pride in delighting everyone who explores this place. We believe the inspiration to create great places and great life experiences originates from the people on our team. Local Character introduces you to a member of the Palmetto Bluff team.

For every home designed, reviewed, and built at Palmetto Bluff, Design Review Board Administrator Ruth Ann Terry is working behind the scenes to make it all happen, managing the guidelines that direct all construction. A self-proclaimed introvert with a passion for the arts, Ruth Ann doesn’t fit neatly into a box—nor would she want to.

Over the years, Ruth Ann has found her niche in telling other artists’ stories, so much so that she ran a successful art gallery in the Upstate of South Carolina for five years before moving to the Lowcountry. When asked how art has affected her life, Ruth Ann put it simply: “It kind of is my life. It’s my release; it’s the way I get away from the laptop and how I clear my mind.”

This passion for art is evident within her own home, where the walls themselves and the art that hangs on them have come to be physical expressions of how she is feeling. On any given day, you can ask Ruth Ann, “What is your favorite piece?” And she will tell you that it depends—it depends on the day, and it depends on where it is. On the day of our interview, her current favorite was a colorful painting hanging in her kitchen titled Say What You Really Mean. In it, the letters Y-E-S surround a mass of oranges, blues, and pinks, and in the very center, on the only area of black paint, it says, “No.”

Minimalist artist Frank Stella famously said, “What you see is what you see.” And with Ruth Ann, there is so much to see.

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