Ruth Tunstall Grant (1945–2017) was an African American artist, educator and activist in the San Francisco Bay Area known for her paintings, community activism, and arts advocacy.

[3] As an undergraduate in 1969, New York curator Henri Ghent included her in Ten Afro-American Artists, an exhibition of paintings and drawings at Mount Holyoke College.

Independent curator and writer Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins has traced the artist’s development from acrylic painting, watercolor, collage to public art.

In discussing Tunstall Grant’s paintings, LeFalle-Collins states “cosmic compositions” and “observant naturescapes” displaying her “female agency” reflected the times.

Tunstall Grant was a major leader to rethink the South Bay art scene in the late 1970s and 1980s, just as Silicon Valley tech advances were taking off.

Hazzard Cordell lauds Tunstall Grant's impact, which ultimately brought children’s artwork and collaborative projects into county courtrooms and social service offices.

[18] Tunstall Grant collaborated on Japantown Mural Project, 2012–2013, a community project by Rasteroids Design and the City of San Jose Public Art Program to celebrate an historic neighborhood, once one of San Jose’s first Chinatown settlements known as “Heinlenville.” [19][16] Ruth Tunstall Grant was an acclaimed artist, activist, and educator whose influence continues to be felt in the artistic and civic community of the South Bay Area and beyond.

Her unselfish service and untiring advocacy for the arts and youth inspired many creative activists and laid a foundation for Silicon Valley’s activism and growth.

[20] Tunstall Grant derived strength from family and cross-cultural friendships, honored their experiences and training, and continually built bridges.