Portrait of Ruby Lefebvre, Oregon Ballet Theatre
Oil on carved plywood,
2 panels, each 36” x 45”
Ruby:
Paul asked me in the spring of 2025, my apprentice year, if we could work on a portrait together. I had just signed a corps de ballet contract to be started in the fall of that year. After a five-year period of uncertainty, having the safety and security of a steady dance contract felt like turning a new chapter. At the time, I was both basking in the joy of ‘making it’ and grappling with how I want to be seen as an artist – and how I wanted to see myself.
Paul and I had both agreed that I was at a genesis, and Paul wanted to capture that moment. I had so much art pouring out of me at that time. I didn’t know where to put it yet, in a way that felt almost painful. I’m a different artist now than I was then. I’ve learned how to sculpt and shape that outpouring, and I’m really glad that we captured that part of my artistic journey.
Chrysalis is about potential. There’s a rough-drafted-ness to it all, the self-aware rawness and vulnerability that comes with being young, being naive, being messy. Embracing it and letting it be part of what’s next.
Portrait of Ruby Lefebvre, Oregon Ballet Theatre
Oil on carved plywood,
2 panels, each 36” x 45”
Ruby:
Paul asked me in the spring of 2025, my apprentice year, if we could work on a portrait together. I had just signed a corps de ballet contract to be started in the fall of that year. After a five-year period of uncertainty, having the safety and security of a steady dance contract felt like turning a new chapter. At the time, I was both basking in the joy of ‘making it’ and grappling with how I want to be seen as an artist – and how I wanted to see myself.
Paul and I had both agreed that I was at a genesis, and Paul wanted to capture that moment. I had so much art pouring out of me at that time. I didn’t know where to put it yet, in a way that felt almost painful. I’m a different artist now than I was then. I’ve learned how to sculpt and shape that outpouring, and I’m really glad that we captured that part of my artistic journey.
Chrysalis is about potential. There’s a rough-drafted-ness to it all, the self-aware rawness and vulnerability that comes with being young, being naive, being messy. Embracing it and letting it be part of what’s next.
