Biography
Born in Scotland.
Lives & works between Surrey and Sunderland.
Seeing beauty in the everyday, the broken, the failure, the ugly, the ordinary, the overlooked, the taboo, the dangerous. Finding joy in the challenge, the curiosity, the problem solving, the touch, the feel, the unexpected, the physical endeavour. Elemental materials, base matter and materials used in industry are polished lovingly; handled preciously; melted and re-melted; burnt and re-burnt; stretched, folded, pierced and their stability tampered with; allowed to crack and break; in existence for just a moment in time; so fragile they cannot be handled; so robust they can hardly be lifted; bound together, restrained and supported.
The duality of self-belief and self-doubt; the need to control and the need to let go; the attempt at beauty and the allure of the ugly; the compulsion to carry on and the exhaustion of the effort – these are all components of the work. But, the seduction of the materials and the process of making compels us to re-evaluate and try again. There is no other way. When emotion, perception and material work together, they become one.
The aim of this embodied practice is to celebrate the immersive experience of using one’s hands to engage with the materials of the world.
© 2018 by Ruth Brenner.