Terre Rybovich

A third-generation
native of West Palm Beach, Terre is a daughter of Tommie Rybovich, the noted
sports-fishing boat designer/builder. Like her father, Terre opts to work at
the edge of what she knows, in a process of continuous questioning.

Her drawing
technique came to her years ago, while delirious with the flu. “Drawing
backward” was the initial idea. In other words, creating an image by removing
charcoal from paper, instead of making marks on a clean page.

Since she was focused on figurative art, she used
her body to remove the charcoal. The ghostly results were intriguing. They also
sparked a reaction from her mind when it confronted creative input that it
didn’t generate. A dialogue began then, between the mind and the bodyprint,
that remains a part of the drawing process today. The result is that Terre
creates artwork that her mind alone couldn’t have imagined.

Since becoming a serious birder, Terre also makes
drawings of birds based on photos she takes. And birds appear in some of her
figurative works.

Terre has her Bachelors in Politics and Economics
from New York University. She has a Masters in Rural Sociology from
Wisconsin-Madison. Her first career was in grassroots activism and
grant-making. The activist experience forged an enduring commitment to this
world. It also instilled a courageous drive that she now channels into
art-making.

Her drawings have been
exhibited widely in South Florida, and are in a number of private collections.
Terre’s drawings have been part of the Viewing Program