Ruth E. Rollason

Overview
An Artist Statement
Adopting various methods, choice of materials and mediums, I seek to visually express an alternative mien to the Roman alphabet in which the symbols are easily recognised and interpreted.
 
I attempt to echo the conflict between what I think or say, to what I see written down. I don’t want people to know what I am thinking but I have the urge to ‘write’ in a concrete poetical style and then hide my ‘poem’ by obfuscating and applying palimpsestual essences of the letter shapes I have created.
 
I am inspired by this anomaly of conjoining text and thought. I create a cacophony derived from letter shapes and using a handwriting rhythm, I consider the process of thought whilst ‘writing’, pushing illegible ambiguity with the purpose and intention to create a tension of complex meaning using a mere 26 simple shapes.

Ruth E Rollason devoted thirty years in London to a career in graphic design after obtaining a BA (Hons) in Information Design. Her passion and fascination with typography and lettering encouraged her to work with various publishing houses including Haymarket and Emap. Rollason also created and produced art catalogues and promotional books for the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths’ and Lingard Architects. In 1998 she founded her own design practice creating commercial design solutions in the UK and the US.

 

Rollason’s relocation from London to Ramsgate, Kent in 2008 proved pivotal in her creative career. For the first time, Rollason began to explore her own personal oeuvre. It was in Ramsgate that she held her first solo exhibition, displaying a plethora of media, photography, ceramics, drawings, and calligraphy. Rollason’s passion for letter shapes and the handwritten word led her to complete an MA (Dist) Fine Art, at the University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury, where she was also awarded Artist in Residence. She has since had several public art commissions, art exhibitions and collaborations .

 

Rollason’s work has been published in the US and included in several private and public collections. She continues to develop her practice in Ramsgate, Kent.

Works
Biography

Group Exhibitions

2020

Winter Salon - Laurent Delaye Gallery, Ramsgate Out of Isolation - Galleries Kent, Canterbury Island off an island - Ramsgate Festival of Sound

2019

Siren of the Downs - Ramsgate Festival of Sound

Voyaging - Meridian 5.41, Ramsgate

Actants - The Beaney, Canterbury

10 - Lombard Street Gallery, Margate

 

2018

Tide Sine - Ramsgate Festival of Sound

Exit to Leopole Street - Folkestone

Of The River and Other Stories - Powerful Tides: 400 Years of Chatham and the Sea, - The Historic Dockyard, Chatham

The Anxiety of Time - Strange Cargo, Folkestone

Succumbing Transience - Pie Factory, Margate

Different Voices - Crate and Turner Contemporary, Margate Journeys with ‘The Waste Land’ - Turner Contemporary, Margate Impronta Print Fair - Folkestone

 

2017

Littoral Light II - The Beach, Ramsgate

Voices - Beach Creative, Herne Bay

24 Hour Film Challenge - Strange Love Festival, Folkestone

Secret Auction - The Acland Burghley School Trust, London

 

2016

Middle Six - Brewery Tap, Folkestone

Littoral Light 1 - The Beach, Ramsgate

All Earthly Existence - Whitstable Biennale Satellite

Secret Auction - The Acland Burghley School Trust, London

 

2014

Open Call - Updown Gallery, Ramsgate

Monkey House Gallery - Ramsgate

 

Solo Exhibitions

2019 The Shroud - Meridian 5.41, Ramsgate

2016 East Kent Open Studios, Ramsgate

Thanet Open Studios, Ramsgate

2015 East Kent Open Studios, Ramsgate Thanet Open Studios, Ramsgate York Street Gallery, Ramsgate

 

Run Workshops

2020    Calligraphy Workshops

Thanet

 

2019    Book Making Workshop

The Beaney, Canterbury

 

2019    Calligraphy Workshops

Thanet

2018    Letter Print WorkshopTurner Contemporary, Margate

2017    MA Fine Art Lecture

UCA Canterbury

 

2016    Marbelling Workshops

Thanet

 

 

Contributor Workshops

2019    Arts Emergency

Mentoring Scheme

Margate

 

Lithography Workshop DBA Editions

Ramsgate

 

Natural Dye Print Workshop

Kent Cloth, Kent

 

2018    Making Paper

Kent Cloth, Kent

 

Creative Ecologies: Strengthening communities through the arts

Turner Contemporary, Margate

2017    Creating Cyanotypes The Dark Room, Margate

 

Exhibitions