Masterclass Rescheduled 9&10 January

Posted in Exhibitions, Narrative Threads, Work With Me by Ruth Singer

My weekend of creative experimentation workshops at NCCD has been rescheduled for 9th & 10th January, the final weekend of the exhibition

Spend a weekend immersed in creative, slow, experimental techniques inspired by Ruth Singer’s work. The workshops include simple, experimental natural dye techniques, embroidery and using found objects. You can create a series of samples, pieces to incorporate into other work or art textile pieces to frame.

Full details of the workshop can be found here.

Ruth Singer Narrative Threads

Star Quilt

Ruth Singer: Metamorphosis

8Nov2015

Narrative Threads exhibition film

Posted in Art Textiles, Exhibitions, My work, Narrative Threads by Ruth Singer

I’m delighted to share my new film about my work for Narrative Threads, made by the fantastic R&A Collaborations.

The exhibition opens on Saturday 14th November 2015 and continues until Sunday 10th January 2016.

Exhibition events:

Preview event: Sat 14th Nov 2-4pm. Free
Drop in activity for 16+: Saturday 28th November 10am-4pm. Free
Masterclass: Sat 5th & Sun 6th December. £50 one day £95 for both
Exhibition talk + Q&A: Sat 12th December 11am-12.30pm. Free

23Sep2015

Narrative Threads Masterclass January 2016

Posted in Art Textiles, Narrative Threads, natural dye, Work With Me by Ruth Singer

Alongside my Narrative Threads exhibition at the National Centre for Craft & Design, I am running a weekend masterclass on 9th & 10th January 2016 (rescheduled from December). Spend the weekend immersed in creative, slow, experimental techniques inspired by my work. The workshops include simple, experimental natural dye techniques, embroidery and using found objects. You can create a series of samples, pieces to incorporate into other work or art textile pieces to frame.

Various dyes

Ruth Singer: Metamorphosis

Star Quilt

Ruth Singer: Metamorphosis

Eco print with leaves and flowers

Day 1

Our first task of the weekend will be to manipulate and colour cloth using natural dyes, plants, food, rust and inks. We will experiment with shibori dye, hand painting colour and creating patterns from rusty metal to create original and exciting patterns and marks on cloth. We will also dye threads and other materials to use on day 2.

Day 2

Using the cloth we have created in day one (or purchased on the day if you have not attended day 1) we will look at using simple embroidery stitches to create marks and patterns on the dyed cloth. We will experiment with layering and cutting away the fabrics to create new textures. We will also explore ways of incorporating found objects into our work to add depth and narrative to the pieces.

£50 per day or £95 for the weekend, including basic materials, with additional materials available to purchase at the workshop. Book with NCCD on 01529 308710 info@nationalcraftanddesign.org.uk.

Ruth Singer: Metamorphosis

Criminal Quilts – Ruth Singer. Photo by Ashley Brown

Rowan leaves to represent Rowan Ward. Hand embroidery.

Hand embroidery (reverse)

Ruth Singer. The Beauty of Stains

Ruth Singer, Criminal Quilt

Stitched stain

Ruth Singer: Metamorphosis

8Apr2015

Narrative Threads Artist in Residence

Posted in Art Textiles, career, My work, Narrative Threads, Residencies by Ruth Singer

March was a time for reflection, thinking and planning. I’m working, slowly, on new pieces. I’m revisiting older work and pulling ideas together. Ideas for new work are sloshing around and beginning to settle. A few days holiday at the end of the month gave me vital thinking time, sitting on the front of a canal boat, pondering. Walking. Looking at the water. Watching the stars come out. All of these are essential parts of my creative process and it is often hard to achieve this kind of peace and contemplative time when my walk to the studio is through the city centre (where there is little green space) and my life is overcrowded with house renovation works and exhibition installation. None of these things is bad at all, but it all takes away from the creative space which is needed to think and make.

This month I have taken The Beauty of Stains out of the NCCD cafe to review the marks it has built up since February and contemplate what more to do on it. I’ve catalogued all the stains, and given it a gentle, cold water wash to remove actual solids while preserving the stains left behind. The piece is building up a fine patina of use, which I am delighted with.

Whether to embroidery the stains or to leave them is troubling me today. I can’t decide.

Ruth Singer: The Beauty of Stains

Ruth Singer: The Beauty of Stains

Meanwhile, Many Hands isn’t yet showing much in the way of marks of use and remains not very changed from when it went up. I don’t know if this is people being very gentle when touching it or if it is more sturdy than I thought. A few more months will tell.

My funded research visits start this month, with trips to Nottingham, Oxford and London next week and Gawthorpe Hall at the end of the month, with many more planned for later in the summer.

Community workshops in Sleaford were part of my original plan for the residency but have proved harder than expected to arrange owing to the limited contacts I have in the town, compared to Leicester, where I have all the right networks already established. This in itself is a learning process for me and goes to show just how important it is to have roots in a place.

March’s workshop at NCCD was inspired by my pincushions, with samples made by work experience students Amelia and Neena and wonderful, colourful pieces also created by workshop participants, some as young as 3!

Workshop

Ruth Singer Pinpebbles

Student samples

My next residency day is 29th April, followed by 29th May which will include another free drop-in workshop.

6Mar2015

Narrative Threads residency day 1

Posted in Art Textiles, career, Exhibitions, Narrative Threads, Residencies by Ruth Singer

A few days ago I finally had my first Narrative Threads residency day at The National Centre for Craft & Design after January’s went awry with snow and illness. It is such a rare treat to spend a whole day focussed on just one project and a day just making my own work is still disappointingly unusual (although that is set to change very soon).

Suitcase packed ready for the trip. Ruth Singer Narrative Threads

Studio desk at NCCD. Ruth Singer Narrative Threads

I’ve started working on a new piece in the Criminal Quilts series, using tiny hexagon patchwork pieces and mainly old fabrics, which I’ve been carefully cutting out to preserve details. My aim is for this to be a major piece in the Narrative Threads exhibition.

Ruth Singer Narrative Threads

I also got the chance to do a first experiment with some dye ideas I’ve been pondering, which needs some more work but I think it going to create what I want. Watch this space for developments.

Ruth Singer Narrative Threads

It was a fantastic treat to see this amazing fragment brought in by gallery staff member Harriet, which she had found in the walls of her ancient house. It looks to me like a neckline of a shirt or smock-type garment, 18th century or earlier I suspect, and undoubtedly a deliberately concealed garment. I’m hoping to include it in the exhibition in some way. This is just the kind of intriguing piece of textile history that I love.

Concealed Garment

My next residency day is Monday 30th March. I’ll be around, working in the 4th floor workshop from 10am-4pm including running a workshop for all ages (adults welcome!) making pincushions inspired by mine shown below. Experiment with some dye techniques, paint, pens, print and stitch to create effects on fabric then make it into a little pebble pincushion,