Chris and Evelyn Rutter and Bennett
Christopher Rutter and Evelyn Bennett have worked closely together since 1994. In collaboration they have made large-scale sculpture for a number of locations including Chichester, Hastings and Swindon Hospitals and ‘Sculpture at Goodwood’. They have been commissioned by property developers such as Lovells and made work for Royal Caribbean cruise liner ‘Brilliance of the Seas’.
Principally they have been interested in working within an architectural and large-scale environment, but find outlets for their work in a wide variety of media and situations, for instance mixed media collages and Artists’ books. (They exhibited at the London Artists Book Fair at the ICA in 2007 and subsequently in 2008/9 and 11).
They have been awarded a South East Arts Direct Support Grant for incorporating digital technology into their work, which has seen expression in large-scale digital prints for Moat Housing Association, Hastings Hospital, Brompton Westbrook and Minterne Junior Schools and Gosport Discovery Centre, as well as in publications and music (including a performance of their sculptural Theremin at the V&A Museum in 2011).
In 2010 Gosport Discovery Centre commissioned a bespoke ‘Reading Chair’, which incorporated specially designed, digitally printed textiles and electronic lighting elements.
South East Arts also helped financially with the production of the ‘Circus’ show at the De La Warr Pavilion in 1998, which toured to the Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth and Brighton University Gallery. Sculptures from this show have been subsequently seen at Rollo Contemporary Art (under the auspices of the Royal Society of Sculptors) and the Prudential Insurance building, London.
In collaboration with architects Baker-Brown Mackay they worked on a proposal for the new cultural centre at Sittingbourne and have worked with architect Fabio Gonzalez-Calzada on work for an exhibition of digital prints supported by Arts Council England.
In 2006 they received a Merit award from the Beijing Olympics Cultural Olympiad for their sculpture ‘Chase Air’ and were included in an exhibition that subsequently toured to 4 Chinese cities.
In 2005 they were awarded a Leonardo da Vinci Fellowship to work and teach at Cyprus College of Art.
Evelyn trained as a Printed Textiles designer at Winchester College of Art and The Royal College of Art and has since worked as a designer of textiles and ceramics for companies such as Habitat, Esprit, Marks and Spencer, French Connection and George Davies and the BBC. She has worked in Germany, Italy and Zimbabwe in her capacity as a designer.
She has taught at Norwich College of Art, The Royal College of Art and Kent Institute of Art and Design (now Univ. Creative Arts) and has been awarded The South East Arts Travel Bursary to Mexico.
Christopher Rutter was trained at Wimbledon College of Art and The City and Guilds of London Art School as a Stone Carver and did his M.A. in the School of Architecture at East London University. He has worked as an architectural carver on a wide variety of old and new buildings including Westminster Abbey (where he carved new figures for the West Front), Ely Cathedral, King’s College chapel and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
He has received a Henry Moore Trust Award to work at Portland Sculpture Park, the McColl Arts Foundation Travel Award to Zimbabwe and craftsmanship awards for his stone carving work. Working with Evelyn he has been the recipient of Arts Council awards for research and exhibition funding and has also taught in various Art colleges and Architecture departments including The Bartlett, East London Univ. and Univ. for the Creative Arts.
Shows and Exhibitions -
2014 Collage installation intervention, LV21 Lightship, Fuse Festival, Medway.
‘Digital Encounters’ international digital innovation exhibition, Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury.
Needless Alley Collective performances at Camden People’s Theatre, London.
‘Metamorphosis’ exhibition TIO3 textiles innovation centre, Ronse, Belgium.
2013 ‘Cabaret Voltaire’ performances with Needless Alley Collective at King’s Head Theatre, London.
Installation intervention, Limmathaus Hotel, Zurich, Switzerland.
Installation intervention, ‘I am not dead’ Duchamp Festival, Herne Bay, UK
Laser dinghy sail design for floating gallery, Whitstable as part of Canterbury Festival.
‘Lace Effects’ exhibition, La Cite Internationale de la Dentelle et de la Mode, Calais.
2012 4 week Residency at BBK Bethanien, Berlin.
Invited speaker ‘Pushing Print’ Festival, Margate.
Invited speaker Crysalis Professional Practice conference, Rochester.
Invited speaker on sustainable textiles at Esmod Fashion School, Berlin.
2011 Performance of Theremin at V&A Museum with Juneau Projects.
‘Handmade and Bound’ Artists Book Fair, St. Brides, London.
‘I am the warrior’, Battersea Pumphouse with Juneau Projects.
‘Crysalis’ textile collaboration project with Campus TiO3 Ronse Belgium, Plymouth Uni. and La Cite Internationale de la Dentelle et de la Mode, Calais.
Orange Dot Gallery, London. Group show.
RCA ‘Excessive Optimism’ digital sound piece.
Contributer to Soundfjord/Audio Gourmet fundraiser album.
6 week artists’ exchange to Berlin producing a collection of street interventions.
Exhibition of collages, MOMAC, Gloucester.
2010 Commission for Gosport Discovery Centre large printed wall graphic and sculptural Reading Chair.
‘Death and Entrances’ exhibition/multimedia event, Faversham.
Sculpture at ‘Lounge on the Farm’ music Festival, Kent.
Exhibiton of sculpture, Blackheath Gallery, London.
2009 Stour Valley Arts festival banner design project and school workshop leaders..
‘Handmade and Bound’ Artists’ book fair, London.
2008 Workshop leaders with Stour Valley Arts woodland art organisation.
Exhibition of sculpture at Blackheath Gallery, London.
‘Handmade and Bound’ Artists’ book fair, London.
‘Generate’ research project and exhibition in assoc. with Turner Contemporary, Margate.
2007 Merit Medal for sculpture in Cultural Olympiad and exhibition for Beijing Olympics, which toured China.
‘Generate’ research project and exhibition on childrens’ creativity in assoc. with Turner Contemporary, Margate.
Yallops Yard, Bow. sculpture commission, Lovells developers.
ICA London Artists Book Fair.
2006 ‘London Art Fair’ and ‘Art London’ with Art Lab Gallery.
Sculpture Exhibition at Rollo Contemporary Art in assoc. with Royal British Soc. of Sculptors.
Designs commissioned for Wembley Stadium development and Hyde Housing Assoc.
‘Creative Partnerships’ practitioners with over 20 Kent schools 2016 - 10.
Mentors for student winners of Ashford Memorial Park public art Competition.
2005 Sculpture designs commissioned for Norman Foster’s ‘Spitalfields’ development.
3 month residency at Cyprus College of Art as Leonardo da Vinci Fellows.
‘Cityscape’, Business Design Centre, London.
Collaboration with Fabio Gonzales-Calzada, Architect. Arts Council England Grant leading to exhibitions at Rochester Art Gallery and Gillingham Library Gallery.
Designs commissioned for Laing Homes, East Dulwich.
Chosen artists to work with Pepys estate residents, Deptford to design new garden area, etc.
Sculpture commission for new Great Western Hospital, Swindon
Digital prints for new buildings at Brompton Westbrook school, Gillingham arising from workshops with pupils.
2003 Prudential Insurance Headquarters, London. Sculpture and Prints.
Sculpture design commissioned by Laing Homes for Normansfield Hospital, London.
‘Sculpture at Goodwood’ Gallery, bronze and resin maquettes, Percy St, London.
2002 Collaboration with Architects Baker-Brown McKay on proposal for new Sittingbourne Cultural Centre. Shown in RIBA exhibition.
2001 Edition of polychrome bronze maquettes of ‘Chase Air’ for ‘Sculpture at Goodwood’.
Sculpture for Thomas Aveling School, Medway.
London Contemporary Art sculpture commission for ‘Royal Caribbean Cruises’
‘Big Draw’ drawing day as part of Canterbury Festival.
2000 Conquest Hospital, Hastings. Commission for 2 outdoor sculptures and large digitally printed panel.
Moat Housing Trust Foyer artwork - large scale, digitally printed panels from community workshop.
‘Circus’ shown at University of Brighton Gallery.
1999 Commission to make 7 sculptures in 7 parks in collaboration with 7 schools in Medway.
‘Circus’ shown at Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth.
Sculpture commission for ‘Sculpture at Goodwood’. ‘Chase Air’. Coll. Dame Stephanie Shirley.
1998 De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea. ‘Circus’ - large scale sculpture.
Sculpture installation. ‘Creation of Pelasgus’ - Rochester City Art Gallery.
1998 Strood Library Gallery, Lordswood Gallery - Ceramic reliefs.
Ramsgate Library Gallery with Mexican printmakers.
1997-98 Artists’ residencies at Bredgar, Wouldham, Borstal and Glencoe primary schools .
1997 Two sculptures for St. Richard’s Hospital, Chichester.
1997 ‘Connect’. Touring show of Artists postcards.
1996 Hove Museum and Gallery - Ceramic Circus. Drew Gallery, Canterbury
1995 Tidal Basin II, Royal Victoria Dock, London - large sculpture.
AWARDS –
2014/15 UCA R.I. funded investigation into 3d imagery in ‘soft’ sculpture and performance.
2012/13 UCA R.I. funded investigation into the application of 3D imagery to sculptural surfaces.
2012 European Union Interreg funding for ‘Metamorphosis’ and ‘Crysalis’ projects.
2005 Leonardo da Vinci Fellow at Cyprus College of Art.
2004 Arts Council England Award for collaboration with Fabio Gonzales-Calzada, Architect.
1998 South East Arts Major Award towards sculpture show at De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill.
1997 South East Arts Direct Support Grant for incorporating digital technology into work.
1995 South East Arts Travel Bursary to Mexico.
1992 Henry Moore Foundation bursary for residency at Portland Sculpture Trust.
1991 McColl Arts Foundation Travel Bursary to Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
1990 Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors award for carving at Westminster Abbey.
TRAVEL –
2013 Installation intervention, Limmathaus Hotel, Zurich, Switzerland.
2012 4 weeks residency at BBK Bethanien, Berlin
2011 6 week artists exchange to Berlin.
2009 Steinfest carving festival, Trondheim, Norway.
2005 3 months residency at Cyprus College of Art on Leonardo Fellowship.
2003/4 Living and working in Sweden.
1995 2 months in Mexico studying folk ceramics and sculpture on Arts Council Travel Bursary.
1994 Research visit to Gascony and Museum of Pre-Columbian Art, Auch.
Drawing trip to the Orkney Islands.
1993 2 month cycling journey to Santiago de Compostella along the pilgrim roads
of France and Spain studying Romanesque art and architecture.
1992 Research drawing visit to the Museum of Classical Archaeology, Rhodes.
1991 2 months in Zimbabwe and Tanzania on McColl Fellowship studying stone carving and rock paintings with residencies at Chapungu gallery and Tengenenge carving community.
TEACHING –
2013 - Associate Lecturer at Univ. of Kent BA Fine Art Medway.
2011 - Senior Lecturer Univ. of Creative Arts B.A. Fshion Textiles:Print, Rochester.
1996 - Sessional Lecturers at Univ. of Creative Arts Foundation, Foundation Degree and ED Rochester and Canterbury.
2006 - 11 Project leaders for Creative Partnerships (creative schools curriculum projects).
2006 - 10 Workshop leaders for Stour Valley Arts Woodland Art Trust.
2006 Mentors for winners of Ashford Memorial Park public art competition.
2005 Postgraduate tutors at Cyprus College of Art.
2001 Visiting lecturer at Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.
1999 -01 Visiting lecturers at School of Built Environment, University of East London.
1992 -94 Sessional Lecturer at Norwich School of Art.
1991 Visiting Lecturer at The Royal College of Art.
PUBLICATIONS, etc. – RUTTER + BENNETT –
‘VAM tv’. V&A Museum. 2011
‘Arteri’ magazine with Stass Paraskos and Stelios Votsis. 2007
‘British Sculptors of the 20th C’. by Alan Windsor. Pub. Ashgate. 2006.
‘Cyprus Times’. Glyn Hughes. 2005.
‘The Art of Prior’s Court School’. by Ann Elliott, published Bohun. 2002.
‘Ten years of Sculpture at Goodwood’. 2002.
‘Concepts for New Sculpture’. Essay by Ann Elliott. 2002.
‘Times Educational Supplement’ front page. October 2002.
‘Howard Jacobson takes on Turner’. BBC 2. 2001.
Sculpture at Goodwood 2001. Catalogue and Sculpture at Goodwood 2000. Catalogue.
‘Walks with Sculptors’. Artsworld TV. 2000.
‘The Sculpture of Sussex’. Liverpool University. 2013