Ruth Dorothy Grotenrath developed an interest in art while attending Riverside High School. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree at Milwaukee State Teachers college in 1933 where her instructors were Gustave Moeller, Robert von Neumann and Elsa Ulbricht.
In 1934 Ruth married Milwaukee artist, Schomer Lichtner and by 1935 both were employed by the W.P.A. (Works Project Administration) Treasury Relief Art Project. During this time she painted three post office murals: "Boy Rounding Up Stock," an oil on canvas in 1941, Hart, Michigan; "Unloading A River Barge, " in tempera, 1943, Hudson, Wisconsin, and a Social Realist mural in tempera titled "Pines of the North," Wayzata, Minnesota in 1947. Ruth’s early work from the thirties tended to be of the American Regionalist style with serious subjects and somber tones.
Brighter colors began to appear in her work in the forties, such as "My Wisconsin" (1948), depicts whimsical farm animals in a style influenced by her husband, Schomer Lichtner. In the fifties she began using water based casein paint and her subjects were influenced by Japanese art.
In 1945, Ruth was on the staff at the Layton School of Art where she taught still life painting. In 1954, she produced and sold her own designs of silkscreen printed drapery fabric at the Wisconsin State Fair. In 1961 she taught design at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and at The Clearing in Door County. Ruth was a member of Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors.
Her later works, after 1960, are very colorful still-loves using abstract elements that often reflect oriental art and culture influenced by a trip to Japan. Ruth and Schomer’s shared studio and home and garden were decorated and influenced by their interest in Japanese art and culture.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel art critic, James Auer was quoted as saying “Ruth Grotenrath was a woman who not only persisted but prevailed in the largely male controlled art business of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s.” In this sense she was much like her mentor Elsa Ulbricht. Ruth’s art seems to carry a theme of the celebration of sensual loveliness in life and the world. As a Zen artist she was receptive to the environment and aware of the moment.