Ruth Oaks took part in selected and group exhibitions at Poole Painting Studio and beyond at:
Whitestones Café Gallery, Portland with Poole Printmakers;
Salisbury Artcare (Salisbury Hospital) with Poole Printmakers;
Southampton City Art Gallery Open on the theme of “Speed and Flight”;
Russell–Cotes Museum, Bournemouth “Views of Bournemouth” exhibition;
Bournemouth University Atrium Gallery exhibition with Bournemouth Arts Club;
Dorchester Open Exhibition (Dorset Visual Arts selected exhibition) at Dorchester Arts Centre;
Dorset Art Weeks Open Studio at Poole Painting Studio;
Dorset Art Weeks Open Studio at Poole Printmakers;
Bournemouth Arts Club annual exhibition at Peacock Gallery;
“Artists Books and Chairs” exhibition organised by Dorset Visual Arts at Bridport Literary Festival;
Poole Painting Studio and Poole Printmakers together opened for “Books at Bowling Green Alley”, an exhibition of artists’ books and text works by Ruth Oaks and a number of other artists as part of Poole Literary Festival.
Ruth Oaks’ commissioned work is available to see at the Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead (nine poetry prints and paintings), St Aldhelm’s Church, Branksome (Stations of the Cross)and at Ringwood Parish Church (Triptych of St Peter and St Paul).
The Exchange, Sturminster Newton (February 2011) and Lighthouse, Poole (March 2011) with Poole Printmakers, and Walford Mill, Wimborne with Fresh Talent (March 2011). Further exhibitions are likely to include those with Southern Contemporaries and Bournemouth Arts Club.
“Books at Bowling Green Alley” was the latest highly successful exhibition held in Poole Painting Studio and Poole Printmakers working in co-operation with the first ever Poole Literary Festival. For three days at the end of October the building was open to the public and showing a beautiful selection of artist's books and text works by a number of artists. Highlights included Debbie Lee’s “Tales Retold”, Peter Ursem’s text piece “No need...” cut in Beech wood and Brian Cox’s “Insects” watercolour concertina book. The exhibition gave a visual art dimension to the Poole Literary Festival’s many exciting events. Some very positive feedback was received from the many visitors, some of whom were Poole residents excited to discover what goes on in this “hidden gem” of a building which they had not previously known about. Comments received included “Fascinating books!”, “Every print tells a story, wonderful...” and “I’ve loved it here! Really enjoyed having a good look at all the lovely work, much of it very beautiful”. Look out for our next literary exhibition in October 2011.
Many artists like to work in series, producing a number of images on the same theme. Some artists like to incorporate words into their work, and some to make images entirely out of text. Others are interested in illustrating existing text or putting their own writing and illustrations together. These ways of working naturally tend to attract artists who use printmaking media, although it does not have to be so. There are many different approaches to this kind of work and where they are put together in some kind of book form, however freely interpreted, the term “artist’s book” has been coined in recent years to embrace them all.
Artists’ books may be bound in a conventional book form, or folded into a concertina; they may be in a very different form resembling a piece of sculpture or produced in any form the creative artist can imagine and design.
This kind of artistic activity is not new (think of William Blake’s magnificent combinations of poetry and image woven together, printed and published by himself) but it has become popular amongst contemporary artists, particularly printmakers, and is now the focus of a number of exhibitions.
Here is an example by Ruth Oaks of a simple artist’s book in folded concertina form. Entitled “A Counterpoint for Four Voices” it is a kind of setting of the words of a sonnet by 16th century poet George Herbert in four different media: silkscreen monoprint, watercolour, collage and ink.
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