Ruth Schowalter, visionary folk artist, certified InterPlay Leader and Life Practice Program Leader, co-founded InterPlay Sustaining International Sisters (SIS), a 501c3 with the Body Wisdom Office, in 2018. Ruth is dedicated to bringing together women from diverse backgrounds (geographical, cultural, spiritual, racial, educational, and generational) through play. Within InterPlay, she found the structure to connect women in ways that support them and allows them to share, learn, and inspire one another. Ruth has an M.S. in Applied Linguistics and ESL and taught international students English communication at the university level for 30 plus years, applying InterPlay to her instruction for a decade. In addition to InterPlay SIS, she leads a Deep Play group twice monthly in Decatur. As an artist, Ruth stays engaged in the creative process and established the The Daily Creative Practice Group on Facebook to insure that her own art, dreams, and creative ideas get priority while supporting others creative engagement. She is a certified Art of Ensoulment coach and has been a dance chaplain for six years, leading CPR for the Soul every Monday through Cynthia Winton-Henry's Hidden Monastery, where she leads participants to blend dance, prayer, and making marks. In 2022, Ruth co-led a monthly Ensoulment Creativity Studio with Cynthia Winton-Henry and is currently co-leading with Cynthia the Art of Ensoulment Wisdom Circle. She is in the process of creating art work to accompany Cynthia's intergenerational book, The Great Dance, to be published in 2026. Once called a “sophisticated primitive” artist, Ruth's colorful figurative paintings and drawings express her inner world both from dreams and psychological meanderings. She lives in Decatur with her author husband, Anthony J. Martin and four cats, Tao, Sapelo, Ossabaw, and Durga.