HILDA RUEDA | PURITY

JANUARY 9 – FEBRUARY 22, 2026 | CAMAS GALLERY

OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY JANUARY 9, 5:30-7:30 P.M. WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS, 6:00 P.M.

This large oil painting of Jeanne Kilongo, by Hilda Rueda, was recently given to the Salem Art Association Permanent Collection by Nadene LeCheminant and is on display until February 22, 2026. Nadene notes:

Jeanne Kilongo is fifteen years old, soon to be sixteen. She is the daughter of Faustin and Sifa Kilongo, who brought their family to Salem from a refugee camp in Tanzania, Africa. Jeanne spent part of her childhood in the camp and has experienced many challenges in her young life, but is resilient and wise beyond her years. The painting has captured her clear, calm expression, and her beauty. Her mother, Sifa, now works at Salem for Refugees, and information about how to volunteer or donate is in the brochures below. 

HILDA RUEDA

Colombian born Artist. Hilda was trained as a petroleum engineer with a master’s degree in international business. She worked in the oil industry for several years, but her passion was always the visual and literary arts. She changed careers and studied art at Glasell School Houston, Calgary Arts, Canada, and with the recognized Brazilian artist, Augusto Sousa Rodriguez. 

Currently resides in Oregon, where she has her studio. Hilda is an active member of several art organizations that contribute to the promotion of education in the visual arts. She also writes poetry which sometimes is incorporated into her paintings. 

Her art is in private collections in Canada, Brazil and the United States. She has exhibited in several countries, and her work has received multiple awards and positive reviews.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Art is the universal language that transcends geographical borders, ethnicity, religion and time.  My art is inspired both by the dramatic play of light and peasant scenes of classical paintings such as the works of Vermeer and Caravaggio and by the bold, impressionistic, more modern art of Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla and Russian painter Nicolai Fechin.  

My human figures are not simply a representation of an individual. They are soul portraits of the deep emotions, feelings and passions that every human being goes through in his/her existence. I intend through strong colors and textures, bold brush stroke and composition communicate to the viewer the emotional clues the model portraits in his/her manner and demeanor, many times bringing to mind a particular subject or theme of the past.

These emotional clues, the energy of happiness and sadness, the suffering and ecstasies and all the mixtures that constitute the wonderful tapestry of life, are not unique to the model but are instead universal to all of us, and I aim through painting and words to awaken a sense of connection and interrelation between the viewer and the model.