Jack Ruszel began his professional career at the age of 16 in his father’s garage, building wood products and screen printing. In 1979, he and his father opened in the industrial park. Ruszel and his crew design and manufacture custom wood products like retail displays, signage and packaging for wineries.
While Ruszel has made a living as a wood worker for over two decades, he is also an artist. In 1999, Ruszel studied art at Solano College with Professor Marc Lancet, who inspired him greatly. “When I sculpt I am drawn in and fascinated, inspired by the play of light and shadow. My sculpture, my work, is a kind of play that is inquisitive and explorative.”
In 2000, Ruszel began sculpting in wood, creating abstract figurative wood sculptures that transcend emotion and passion. Ruszel works with ceramic, stone and other mediums but continually returns to wood. “Though my sculpting is very physical, requiring great energy and effort, the process allows my mind to move from the chaos of modern life, to a calmer focus,” says Ruszel. “The life in a piece of wood becomes apparent as the sculpture progresses. My sculptures, large and small, are, from inception, conceived on a grand scale. I find myself driven to work on increasingly larger pieces.”
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Ruszel's humble demeanor is refreshing and disarming. As a father to three grown sons aged 26, 26 and 28, Ruszel enjoys time with his family and wife a bronze and ceramic sculptor.
Ruszel has a passion for preserving a healthy and sustainable environment, so he uses sustainable woods in his business and recycled redwood fence boarding. “I believe it is this human response to the magnificence of our world that, if cultivated, will be catalyst for our conversion from an all-consuming society to one of sustainability.”
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His love of nature inspired Ruszel. For five years he lived in a tree house that he built near Lake Berryessa. While it was fun and adventurous, “It was 20 miles from anywhere,” says Ruszel, which made it less than ideal, especially after he and Reinertson married.
As an outdoorsman, Ruszel likes to mountain bike, hike with his dog and get out in nature as often as he can. He and Reinertson enjoy walking in out in the open spaces of Benicia on Sundays. They call it their spiritual time. Ruszel artfully balances his business, his art and his family life in Benicia.
