Greta Ruekgauer fashions the imagery of the Southwest onto secondhand garments, transforming thrifted tank tops and other found clothing into wearable block prints that echo the region’s iconography. Operating under the name Stubbornworn, Ruekgauer applies hand-carved blocks to depict cowgirls, bison, galloping mustangs and other motifs tied to the Wild West, using the textures and worn surfaces of used clothing as her canvas. Her approach combines an interest in object design with a commitment to repurposing, producing pieces that reflect both a personal history in the desert and a contemporary, sustainable take on apparel and accessories.
Ruekgauer traces the roots of her artistic voice to an upbringing in New Mexico. "I just had this most magical childhood ... of running through the desert with my friends, exploring, and playing, and it felt completely limitless," she said, describing a formative sense of freedom found in open landscapes and untamed spaces. After leaving the Southwest for the East Coast, she eventually made a cross-country drive that brought her back to the region. The moment she drove through Tucson, she said, she felt certain she wanted to stay — drawn to the saguaros, the vistas of Mount Lemmon, the monsoon seasons and the particular light of desert sunsets.
Her academic background includes a bachelor of science in object design, a foundation that informs how she thinks about materials and form. Ruekgauer formally launched Stubbornworn in January 2026, but her path to block printing began earlier, in the fall of the previous year. While working through a period of experimentation — trying ceramics, collage, painting and even Shrinky Dinks — she found herself repeatedly returning to hands-on processes. A casual trip to a craft store ended with a block printing kit in hand, and that modest impulse grew into a defining technique for her work.
The earliest prints reflected the liminal, playful desert imagery that has long fascinated her; her first design featured a desert scene with a UFO and an abducted cow. That initial motif was emblematic of the blend of humor and Americana that appears in her pieces. The carving and printing process itself captured her attention: she found the physical act of carving to be absorbing and rhythmic, producing a concentration that she described as meditative. That focused attention on the tools and surfaces led her to develop a steady practice of carving, inking and printing by hand, imprinting each piece with the marks of that labor-intensive method.
A double rainbow arches over the Tucson desert with saguaros in the foreground, reflecting the desert landscapes that inspire the artist’s work.
Ruekgauer’s work sits at the intersection of thrift culture and craft practice. She intentionally seeks out used garments to serve as the substrate for her prints, embracing the unique abrasions, stains and wear patterns that thrifted textiles bring. Tank tops and tees with lived-in textures become backgrounds for linocut-like imagery, so that each final object carries both the history of its previous life and a new visual narrative stamped onto it by Ruekgauer’s carved blocks. The result is an eclectic mix of Americana references applied to ready-made clothing, recontextualizing mass-produced garments as one-of-a-kind art objects.
The label’s debut into public sales and markets has been accompanied by visual documentation of those early steps: photographs show Ruekgauer standing behind a local market booth, her table arranged with upcycled clothing and handmade accessories available for shoppers to examine. These market appearances represent an immediate way for buyers to see the texture of the prints and the effect of the carved blocks on varied fabric surfaces. The market setting also allows Ruekgauer to present the pieces in person and to test different images and layouts on thrifted garments, refining her designs against the lived realities of clothes that have already been worn and washed.
The artist featured in this story at a local market booth displaying upcycled clothing and handmade accessories for sale.
Though still early in its public life, Stubbornworn is grounded in a clear set of influences: the desert landscapes of New Mexico and Arizona, the visual language of the American West, and a studio practice informed by object design training. Ruekgauer’s printed motifs lean into recognizable Western symbols — cowgirls, bison, mustangs — rendered in the graphic, hand-made manner of block printing. The pieces speak visually to place in a straightforward way, with the tactile evidence of thrifted materials and hand-carved blocks serving as part of the work’s appeal. Ruekgauer has described the desert’s features — saguaros, monsoons, sunsets and nearby mountains — as ongoing sources of inspiration, elements that shape the palette and iconography of her prints.
As Stubbornworn moves forward from its January 2026 launch, Ruekgauer’s practice remains anchored in material reuse and in the slow, manual work of carving and printing. Whether arranged on a market table or worn as an individual statement, her block-printed thrift garments are meant to carry forward the imagery and atmosphere of the Southwest while also celebrating the humble surfaces of pre-owned clothing. The project brings together childhood memories, formal training and a period of creative exploration into a tangible line of upcycled apparel and accessories that reflect the landscapes and cultural motifs that first drew her back to Tucson.
Ruekgauer appeared as a vendor at Hotel Congress’s Junkchella on April 19, 2026, where she provided handmade stamps for attendees to embellish journal pages and sold a selection of her linocut-printed thrifted clothing.
Organizer Codi Wilcox noted that Ruekgauer was scheduled to appear at a Keep Tucson Crafty event at Di Luna on May 9, 2026.
Stubbornworn was listed among the vendors for the Groundworks May Art Market at 2919 E Grant Rd on May 30, 2026, in a public event listing for the market.