Ruth Singer
Leicester
Artist-maker exploring human experience expressed through thoughtful and emotionally-engaged textile practice..
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My practice is mainly studio-based, working on exhibitions and funded projects as well as collaborations and commissions. I established my practice in 2005 after 8 years in the museum sector and have combined my work with teaching, writing and consultancy work.
Residencies and funded projects allow me to explore new ideas, develop new bodies of work and engage in deep relationships with the source materials. I often work with heritage and my work draws heavily on my first career in museums. I am fascinated by material culture, history and the power of objects in human lives. In my work I aim to explore and illuminate narrative and places as well as how we respond to and interact with objects and materials in our daily lives, the traces and stories we leave behind. I work predominantly with hand stitch and textile exploring ideas including hidden stories, creating visual records of ephemeral experiences, stains and marks, change and decay as well as intensely personal and emotive stories around loss and remembrance.
I work mainly with old cloth, found objects, thread and natural materials which I combine with hand stitch, natural dye, quilting, appliqué and mixed media. I work in series or groups of work in response to research and my practice encompasses hangings, quilts, small objects and installations which all have distinctive feel of preciousness and delicacy created with the combination of hand stitch, fragile fabrics and emotive subject matter. I am currently working on several residencies and exhibition projects and hope to expand my portfolio to include public art and more commissions.
Selected exhibitions
2019 Textile Traces: Personal Stories in Cloth. Solo exhibition at Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre.
2018-19 Criminal Quilts, solo exhibition launched at Festival of Quilts 2018 and touring
2018 Emotional Repair, solo exhibition at Gawthorpe Hall Textile Collection, Lancashire.
2017-18 Process: Visualising DNA. Showcase of joint artist residency in Genetics at Leicester University and 44AD Gallery, Bath.
2017 ‘Fragments’ solo exhibition, Quilt Association at Minerva Art Centre
2016-2018 ‘Made in the Middle’ collaboration with Bethany Walker, curated by Craftspace
2016 Fine Art Quilt Masters competition, Festival of Quilts - winner
2015-16 ‘Narrative Threads’ solo exhibition at the National Centre for Craft & Design
2006-2016 Group exhibitions including: Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre, National Centre for Craft & Design, Shire Hall Gallery, Unit Twelve, Origin (Crafts Council), Textile Art Centre New York, Cheongui Craft Biennial Korea, University of Leicester
Museum collections & public art
2019 ‘Repeat Offender’ purchased by Brampton Museum, Staffordshire
2018 ‘Memorial Sampler’ purchased by Gawthorpe Textiles Collection
2016 Urban Growth installation (with Bethany Walker) Makers’ Yard, Leicester
2015 Centenary Quilt for Harefield Hospital NHS Trust
2013 Court Hands purchased by Staffordshire Arts & Museums Service for permanent display in Shire Hall. Now in Staffordshire Records Office
Awards & commendations
2019 ‘The Artist’ Prize at Leicester Society of Artists annual exhibition
2017 Fringe Arts Bath solo exhibition prize with Gillian McFarland
2016 ‘One to Watch’ prize with Bethany Walker of at Made in the Middle
2016 Winner of the Fine Art Quilt Masters competition, Festival of Quilts
2012 Craftspace Prize, Unit Twelve Contemporary Craft Open
2012 Winner of Haymarket Big Idea competition
2006 Springboard at Origin; Crafts Council selected new makers showcase
Commissions
2019 Commissions for Newbold Verdon Library for Libraries Live
2015 Centenary Quilt Harefield Hospital NHS Trust
2012 Shire Hall Gallery. Court Hands series of miniature quilts
2009 Derby Museums. Figures of Africa exhibition
Residencies
2018-19 Newbold Verdon Library for Leicestershire County Council / Libraries Live
2017-18 Criminal Quilts, Staffordshire Records Office & University of Wolverhampton
2017 Genetics Department, Leicester University
2015 The National Centre for Craft & Design
2007 Bilston Craft Gallery
Selected recent projects, consultancies & collaborations
2019 Residency and Commission for Libraries Live, a community libraries and arts project by Staffordshire County Council. Ran residency for community and volunteers in the library. Created two-art commission comprising large quilted book including participant-created artwork and an activity box and colouring book for independent use.
2018-19 Consultant carrying out major research project on the development of Made in Leicestershire brand and directory. Development and support of local networks for Creative Leicestershire.
2018 Lead Artist & Residency on Criminal Quilts project. Research, public engagement and exhibition project around Victorian women criminals with Staffordshire Record Office and Wolverhampton University. Developed and delivered by me. Funded by Arts Council through my own application.
2017 Consultant carrying out research, facilitation of networking events and report on the business needs of artists for Creative Leicestershire.
Full time museum jobs
2002–2005 Adult Education Officer, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
1999–2002 Interpretation Officer, London Transport Museum.
During my museum career I curated exhibitions, developed interpretation, wrote publications and online learning packages, managed major events, conferences and learning programmes.
Education
1996 BA (Hons) Medieval Studies 2:1, University of Manchester.
1997 MA Museum Studies, University of Leicester.
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