Previous Exhibition

Block Prints By Everett Ruess

The Moab Museum presents Block Prints by Everett Ruess, a Utah Department of Arts & Museums’ traveling exhibition which includes a selection of block prints created by artist and writer, Everett Ruess, depicting his travels throughout the western United States in the early 20th century. Running from November 11th, 2022 through February 2023 at the Moab Museum, the prints included in the exhibition are among those he created during the five years period prior to his disappearance in the Escalante canyons in 1934, including travels between the Californian coast, the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the canyonlands of Utah and Arizona.

Winter Printing Workshops

Leading up to the holidays, Moab Museum Members and community members joined Museum staff to create postcards in the spirit of Ruess, and using historic printing materials from the Times-Independent newspaper. We hosted five Postcard Printing Workshops throughout November and December 2022. Throughout the winter of 2023, the Museum hosts and participates in a number of Ruess-inspired programs.

View the full event line up
Visitors enjoy printmaking at the Museum between November and December 2022.
Print created with historic Times Independent print materials.
Students print postcards and bookmarks inspired by Everett Ruess.
Community Relations Officer, Mary Langworthy teaches printmaking at the Moab Museum.
Printing at the Moab Museum.
Community Relations Coordinator, Mary Langworthy, printing with locals.

Everett Ruess, a young artist and writer, roamed the desert wilds of the southwest until his mysterious and unsolved disappearance in 1934, at the young age of twenty. Throughout his travels, Ruess recorded his experiences, interactions and the landscape he was so inspired by, through writing and block printing. These artistic works, which he traded and sold as he moved around, allowing him to maintain his vagrant lifestyle, have preserved his memory as a cult figure within the artist community as well as lovers of the desert of the Southwest. His wanderlust, deeply intertwined with his art, still inspires art and love of the desert, even still, nearly a century later. The prints in this collection come from the last five years of Ruess’ life, showing an evolution of his work and talent as he captured the natural world around him. 

The Utah Department of Arts & Museums’ Traveling Exhibit Program is a statewide outreach program that provides schools, museums, libraries, and community galleries with the opportunity to bring curated exhibitions to their community. This program is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Ruess on horse negative from 1924-1928. Ruess's family lived on a farm Indiana where this photo was taken.
"Radiation" Alice Merrill Horne Art Collection, Utah Division of Arts and Museums.
Everett Ruess by Dorothea Lange, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah
Ruess, burro and dog, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah
Everett Ruess with gun and dog, 1934, the year of his disappearance. Photo from the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library
Ruess, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah
Ruess and several horses
"Silhouette of man and two burros," Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah
Photograph showing a letter signed by Everett Ruess and a blockprint by Everett Ruess entitled “Wild Coastline.” Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah
"Monument Valley" by Everett Ruess, linocut print from the Alice Merrill Horne Art Collection, Utah Division of Arts and Museums.

Prints and Photos from the Alice Merrill Horne Art Collection, Utah Division of Arts and Museums and Special Collections,
J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah

Printing Programs: In Celebration and Exploration of the Everett Ruess Legacy

Writer and printmaker Everett Ruess’ words and block prints have inspired generations of desert wanderers since his disappearance in 1934. In conjunction with our temporary exhibit, Block Prints by Everett Ruess, a variety of programs during the winter of 2022, will offer a window into his creative legacy.

  • An Introduction to Printmaking class series at the Moab Arts and Recreation Center (MARC)
  • A Ruess-inspired Writer’s Workshop series (February)