Joanne Beaule Ruggles feels she was born to teach art. Her love of the creative process is infectious. Ruggles has the unique combination of being a good communicator and having proficiency with a broad array of materials, tools, and art techniques.

Passionate about creating her own art, this teacher has been just as eager to share her knowledge and expertise with others. Her natural enthusiasm, her abundant encouragement, her willingness to work alongside students in an atmosphere of collaboration, and her gift for simple yet descriptive explanations has provided Ruggles with a toolbox of wonderful skills to use in assisting others in learning about art.

Joanne loves to challenge her students to continue to grow their own work with questions about how they might expand their initial ideas, encouraging them to further research their topics and to tailor their art so that it truly expresses their own uniqueness.

Ruggles twin passions have delivered honors. Joanne was a finalist in the annual competition for the Cal Poly Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest teaching honor Cal Poly bestows. Subsequently, the artist was chosen by Cal Poly to receive the 2004 Distinguished Research Award for her creative work, as evidenced by her Stone of Hope painting series.