ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT Kent Artist Profile :
Ruth Dent
Ruth Dent creates . She creates art , she creates worlds , she creates characters . This month , insideKENT ’ s Lisamarie Lamb asked her about what she does , and what the inspiration is behind it all .
How would you describe your art ? What is it that you do ?
I ’ m an artist-printmaker expressing my emotional response to music , literature and live performance through colourful and gestural abstracts . Working on an interpretation , I endeavour to capture its essence in visual form , taking into account its purpose , meaning , history , location and connections with places and / or people associated with the piece .
What is your background ?
Being an artist is a second career for me . I started in 2003 by taking an Adult Education course and then progressed via West Kent College to UCA Maidstone where I gained a BA ( Hons ) Printmaking ( 1st ) in 2010 .
What is the most difficult piece you ’ ve ever undertaken ?
That would have to be ‘ Art for Evensong ’ where I took my series of 16 prints interpreting choral evensong ( each measuring 25cm x 50cm ) and turned them into painted banners measuring 1.35m x 2.5m !
These were hung in the choir transepts of Rochester Cathedral from October 2012 to January 2013 , and after being shown in Rochester Cathedral , I took the banners on tour to the Isle of Man ( St Germain , Peel ) in 2013 , then Worcester and Bradford Cathedrals in 2014 .
What is your favourite piece ?
That ’ s really tricky ! It ’ s probably my scarves , as by appropriating my own work , digitally printing the images onto silk to create limited edition silk scarves ( Made in Britain ), I have created new art ( which doesn ’ t need any wall space – though I do have collectors who have hung my scarves on their walls ). This enables me to share my art with a wider audience , who can connect with the story behind the art , bring it alive , travel with it , continue the story and make their own memories . Hence ‘ Travels with my Scarf ’.
What is the inspiration behind Augusta ? Can you tell us more about her ?
Yes ! At the beginning of the summer , I had a series of photos taken with models and the photos came out so well I wanted to use them in a special way to show everyone how the scarves look on real ladies and how they can transform your outfit / mood .
That ’ s when Augusta arrived ! I had the idea that all of my models , now and in the future , could be ‘ Augusta ’, and that she would be a character containing elements of all of us , and someone we could all relate to in our own way .
I encourage my collectors to take photographs of their scarves wherever they are , and these photos are interspersed with those of Augusta , with a sentence or two about the location or with a comment from Augusta . I am encouraging people to get to know and to interact with Augusta as she shares her adventures , thoughts and ideas and as her personality develops .
As well as my model photos , I also have an illustrated Augusta drawn by Jane Spencer ( http :// sight-hound . co . uk / illustration ).
What has been your proudest artistic achievement to date ?
Winning the John Purcell Paper Prize at the National Open Print Exhibition in 2015 for Dies irae l , from my Britten War Requiem series of 8 prints .
Where can we see your work ?
At Nucleus Arts in Rochester – the only location where my scarves are available to see and buy , as well as other pieces of my art .
Moulin de Larroque , Couze , 23150 , France – five pieces remain following my exhibition there earlier this year . Displayed in a room above the millstream alongside work from two French artists who also use their handmade paper .
www . ruthdent . com @ ruthdentart
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