Ruthie VanderHart would never have predicted that her doodling could become a career, let alone find it to be a way of communicating with others. A woman of many interests, including comic books, science fiction, history, marbles and even raising goldfish, VanderHart calls herself a curious person who has been drawing her whole life.

“If you believe my mom, I was drawing with Spaghettios by the time I could move my hands,” she said.

Though art has always been a hobby, her skills and processes have progressed throughout the years.

Her current show, starting Oct. 25 in the Padnos Gallery of the Calder Art Center and running through today, features games and some illustrations that are unique because of their lack of a set of rules. VanderHart got the idea from a printmaking professor last year and liked the way it related to human communication.

“I thought about how basic social interactions and the way everyone deals with each other is pretty much like a game,” Vanderhart said. “I thought maybe kids view games as a way of learning how to deal with people normally. Social interactions have their own sets of rules, but until you know what they are, you just have to watch others.”

Mixing art with social interaction not only gave Vanderhart an interesting showpiece, but it related to her greatly on a personal level as well.

“When I was a little kid I had a lot of trouble connecting with people my own age. I was that weird kid sitting in the back of class that nobody really wanted to play with,” she said. “I found that through art I’ve been able to express who I am and connect with people on a more comfortable, basic level.”

She did just that by making the games not only something that looks interesting, but something that people can use to interact with each other without the restriction of set rules. The illustrations featured at the show follow this same idea of not following expected guidelines.

“With the illustrations I just decided to tell a story without following any rules,” Vanderhart said. “I just started doodling out a story and whatever happened happened, without having to worry about plot or climax or anything. It didn’t really matter if it made any sense or not.”

Vanderhart said she hopes to continue this theme in work later on and put out an entire series of similar pieces. She hopes to eventually become a professor at some point in life as well.

“I enjoy art and I think it would be excellent to share my knowledge with others after I’ve had the chance to build it up a bit,” she said.

A closing reception for VanderHart’s show will be held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. today in the Padnos Gallery.

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