Ruth Broadbent
Artist and Lecturer
Having spent large chunks of my childhood playing in fields, or in a boat on rivers and canals, I continue to seek inspiration in nature and landscape, whether sitting in a field observing and listening, swimming in seas, lakes and rivers, or walking and cycling tracks. This interest in ecology and environment is embedded in my creative practice, with added influences from my background in sociology, human rights and languages.
My fascination with line, from imagined lines to lines in and across landscape, has been an ongoing theme in my work for many years. This has led me to delve more into how and why we interpret line in drawing and sculpture in certain ways, from scientific and mathematical influences, to culture and language.
Earlier works often considered people and objects, identity and value, using scale, form and a tactile, playful quality, to captivate, intrigue and stimulate debate.
Alongside creating my own work, I also have extensive experience of teaching at university, further and adult education levels, from tutorials, assessments and workshops, to artist talks and professional practice.
Feel free to contact me for teaching and artist talks, an artist project, an exhibition that you have in mind, or to find out about works for sale.
Summary of C.V.
I am a qualified lecturer with a PGCE in post-compulsory education at Masters level and a 1st Class B.A. (Hons) in Fine Art. In addition, I have an M.A. in The Theory & Practice of Human Rights and a B.A. (Hons) in Sociology and French.
Associate lecturer posts in Drawing and Sculpture include Oxford Brookes University, Canterbury Christ Church University, and Banbury & Bicester College / City of Oxford College (Activate Learning). I also teach adult education courses and have been an artist-in-residence in both a college and museums.
I am a Co-Director of Walking The Land CIC and a member of hyphæ drawing collective, The Artists Information Company (a-n), Drawing Edges Interdisciplinary Research Group, Drawing Research Network and Walking Artists Network.
My work has been published in Typewriter Art by Barrie Tullett (Lawrence King, 2014). In 2017 I launched a new work, Walking a Line at Made of Walking, La Romieu, France. Links to read my article Groundlines and Puddle Worlds: maps as records of real and imaginary worlds (Living Maps Review, Spring 2022 Edition) can be found here. A walk draw recipe is included in The Walkbook – Recipes for walking and well-being (Walking Publics/Walking Arts, 2022).
In 2021 I was selected for Drawing Correspondence ‘GROW’ which resulted in a publication and the formation of hyphae drawing collective. In 2022 I was selected for a British Council COP27 project, Reading Water : A Contemplative Ecology of the Rivers Nile (Egypt) and the Thames (UK) in the run up to COP27.
As a Co-Creator with the Museum of Walking, I create walking drawing walkshops. I have also taken part in various collaborative walking drawing events and projects, many of which are detailed in my blog.
Founder of walk.draw – information on walk.draw and walking and drawing events, past and present, including tree festivals, can be found on the walk.draw page of this website.
For my full CV please contact me.
Exhibitions include:
Field Walking, Corinium Museum, Cirencester (2024), Expo d’Eté, Galerie du Bassin, Chalabre, France (2024) Beyond Scale – Hyphae Drawing Collective (Hondartza Fraga / The Big Picture, Grimsby, 2024), Between the Lines at The House of Smalls (2024), Winter Solstice 2023 (ArtWorks 2024), Drawing is Free 10 Year Anniversary Exhibition, Paris College of Art (2023), Convergence / Divergence, a Walking the Land exhibition and event (2023), ‘Ecologies of Drawing: In Situ’, a Drawing Research Network (DRN) exhibition, Loughborough University. Curated by Sara Schneckloth (2022). #WalkCreate Gallery 1 – Walking Publics / Walking Arts (2021), Letting it settle – hyphæ drawing collective at Touchbase Gallery, Folkestone (2021), GroundWorks – Landlinks, Three Storeys, Nailsworth (2021), LIM(I)NAL, The Alastair MacLennan Archive (Nov/Dec 2020), The Language of Line: Harriet Boardman, Ruth Broadbent and Jane Wafer, Glass Tank Oxford (2017). Staff Room, Michael Heseltine Gallery, Middleton Cheney (2016). Staff and Tutor Showcase, Mill Arts Centre, Banbury (2015, 2013, 2011). Summer, Hemingway Art, Pennwood House, Oxford, 2012. Then and Now, Banbury Museum, 2012. OVADA Gallery Silent Auction, Oxford, 2010. ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2009, Mall Galleries, London, 2009. Art In Woodstock, 2009. X°, Mill Arts Centre, Banbury, 2008. Modern Art Oxford, The Oxford Open(selected by gallery for press interviews and Oxford Muse at MAO’s LATE event), 2008. ART2, Short listed for award, Mill Arts Centre/Banbury Museum, 2007. Affordable Art Fair, London, 2007. New Contemporaries, Turrill Sculpture Garden, Oxford, 2006. ART2, Short listed for award, Mill Arts Centre/Banbury Museum, 2005.
OVADA Gallery Window Project in shop to let, Oxford, 2008 (solo exhibition). Exhibition whilst artist-in-residence, OCVC Banbury, 2008 (solo exhibition). New work, OCVC Foyer, Banbury, 2007 (solo exhibition). All or nothing, The North Wall Gallery, Oxford, 2007 (solo exhibition).