Image of Ruth Broadbent drawing on rocky beach with sea in background (2021)

November News and Updates

November 18, 2021

This is a copy of my November News and Updates, recently sent out to my mailing list. If you’d like to subscribe for these occasional updates on exhibitions, events, new artwork and workshops, scroll down to the bottom of this page or the home page to sign up. They are only sent out occasionally and you can unsubscribe at any time.

November News and Updates includes three artworks recently selected for the #WalkCreate Gallery (an online resource of walking drawing art); thoughts on collaborative work and a recent drawing and video work, T I D E  for ‘Watermarks, From the Water’s Edge’ (to be shown at The Edge Conference 2021, University of the Highlands and Islands); and booking links and info for an upcoming online walkshop Drawn to Trees: From Sydney Gardens to the Skyline (created for the Bath Tree Weekender, 28 Nov) and a Drawing and Sketching course starting in the New Year (online and in-person).

I have only recently started to send these out so they will no doubt evolve over time. As you might have noticed, I’m not great at regularly posting on social media or on my blog, so you’re unlikely to be inundated with emails! I will however, do my best, to send them whenever there is news of something that might be of interest.


#WalkCreate Gallery

 

Three of my works were selected for the walking artists gallery which has just launched at #WalkCreate, an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project on Walking Publics / Walking Arts – walking, wellbeing and community during COVID-19.

You can view my works, Puddle WorldsLandlinks and Drawing Breath in Gallery 1 and browse through all the works here. There is also a video recording of the launch and all the works in the #WalkCreate gallery which you can watch here (scroll to bottom of page for video). For more about each of my works, click on their titles to visit their gallery pages on my website.

A thin black line traces around the edges of the inky traces of a puddle
Ruth Broadbent: Puddle World IV (detail)

Hopefully this will become a useful resource for walking art. There is an ongoing research project too so do keep an eye on it if you’re interested in walking and drawing.


Watermarks: From the Water’s Edge

 

Creating within the context of a group has become an integral part of my working process during the pandemic and many of the groups I met online have continued to work together. In September, I gave a talk to Walking The Land on moving from a solitary practice to a more collaborative way of working. I realised just how much the urgency of the climate crisis has led me into seeking out this way of creating. It has now taken on new resonances and whilst I still create solitary works, they are almost always in some way connected to a larger project and within an ecological context. Being part of a group has been unexpectedly rewarding in ways that I hadn’t expected.

Following our recent exhibition, Letting it settle, in Folkestone, I continue to meet online regularly with hyphæ drawing collective to draw together and share ideas. I’m also continuing to virtually meet with a group of us who are developing work around drawing breath. I find that spontaneously creating drawings in this way can free me up to just draw and put my thinking brain to one side. So often my work begins with a ‘happy accident’, an aside or a doodle, and I am finding that these encounters with others to draw together also has the potential to throw up ideas for new works. Even the rejected drawings are useful experiments.

Pen in process of drawing with sand on paper for T I D E (2021, video still image)
Ruth Broadbent - T I D E (2021, video still image)

Over the last few months, I’ve been preoccupied with developing works around water, with a focus on a Walking The Land project, ‘Watermarks: From the Water’s Edge’, to be shared at The Edge Conference 2021, University of the Highlands and Islands.

I found myself walking local rivers, using drawing, photography and video which led to creating drawings in the rain, and finally a trip to the coast. Playing with sea water and sand, and pen on paper, alongside memories and imagination, the beginnings of a drawing began to emerge. I felt as though I had jumped out of the confined space of my pandemic puddle worlds in the garden to the wide expanse of the sea.

For my contribution to this project, I have created a short video that will be collated into a longer video of all the artist works to be shown at the conference alongside a panel discussion. If you’d like to attend the conference, it’s online 15-16 December and can be booked here. I think Watermarks will be shown on the first day of the conference.

I’m keeping the video under wraps for now but there’s a hint of the drawing above and I’ll share it online, on my website and social media, after the conference. It’s my first attempt at video and I feel very much at the start of this journey – will be closely watching and deconstructing the making of artist videos from now on!


Hands drawing with pencil onto small square of paper, making a ground rubbing. The ground is dry, compacted earth with a scattering of tiny stones.

walk.draw

Tree Weekender

 

If you’re interested in trees, I’m talking part in the upcoming Tree Weekender in Bath. There are lots of tree events happening over the weekend, both in-person and online. If you’d like to check out what’s on before booking opens on Nov 14th, the programme link is here.

I’ll be running an online drawing walking trees walkshop on Sunday 28 November, ‘Drawn to trees: from Sydney Gardens to the Skyline’. More info with a booking link on walk.draw page of my website here and on Twitter @walk_draw and Instagram @walk_draw_


A splash of charcoal marks explode across the page

Upcoming classes and workshops

Bookings will open soon for my Spring 2022 Monday Drawing and Sketching Classes at The Mill Arts Centre, Banbury. Keep an eye on The Mill’s website and social media for updates. There will be in-person and online options and I vary the subject matter each term. (click here for details).


It’s felt incredibly busy over the last year, juggling lots of different projects, but has been very creatively rewarding. I’m looking forward to having some quiet time though to figure how to keep growing walk.draw, fund it (increasingly tricky!), and continue to develop new artwork. Also, I’ll keep popping out regularly for walks, swims and exploring local rivers by kayak. It feels integral to my artwork, even if, as in last weekend, I was just drifting along the river quietly watching kingfishers dart ahead.

Warm wishes to you all

Ruth

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