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Ruby Mackenzie was born in Newcastle, NSW in 1964 and grew up on the Central Coast. She studied Fine Arts at Newcastle Technical College. After graduating in 1984, Ruby worked and traveled between Sydney and the NSW North Coast, exhibiting and selling paintings in Eungai.

In 1992, Ruby moved to Victoria. Over the next few years she lived between Carlton, Somers and Sandy Point. Ruby was awarded 1st prize at the Westernport Art Show in 1995. In 1998 Ruby moved to Byron Bay and began exhibiting and selling paintings at Waywood Gallery, Byron Bay.

Ruby returned to the Mornington Peninsula in 2001, exhibiting in a four person group show at Oak Hill Gallery, Mornington in 2002.

In 2003, Ruby was part of a two person show at Brightspace Gallery, St.Kilda called ‘Two Up’. This exhibition saw Ruby’s art shift from traditional landscape to abstract interpretations of her environment.

In 2004, Ruby put on her first solo exhibition ‘Genesis’ at Hogan Gallery, Collingwood, a series of paintings based on interpretations of the Biblical text. She was also invited to participate at Wiregrass Gallery, Eltham, in a group exhibition following the trail of the Heidelberg School of Artists.

In 2005 Ruby moved to the Indigenous community of Jarlmadangah in the Kimberley. She was awarded the Kimberley Art Prize (Oils & Acrylics Section) for her entry Grant Range Sunset and was exhibiting and selling paintings at Broome Gallery, Broome. She was also employed as an Arts Officer at the local Women’s Centre (Jarndu Jaurdu Warnngara), assisting women in the community develop an arts industry.

Ruby’s second solo exhibition ‘Kimberley Works’, at Jeffery Malesa Gallery, Sorrento, in 2006 was the culmination of her year in the Kimberley, drawing on the inspiration of the country surrounding the Fitzroy River. Ruby moved to the Anmatyerr community of Ti Tree, north of Alice Springs, in 2006 where she painted amidst the arid environment of the Central Desert.

She was commissioned to paint an interpretation of Uluru, which she titled Rock of Ages. This is now held in a private collection in London.