Ruth instinctively paints large expressive and often spontaneous landscapes,  these reflect her passion and response to the immediate environment around her. Distinct in style, Ruth uses splashes of colour, expressive mark making and combines a wild energy into each piece.

Incorporating various techniques and materials including tea, mud, oil , acrylic, mixed media, she seeks to push and challenge the boundaries of traditional painting methodology. Painting acts as a visual voice or expression, capturing the essence of emotion that is often lost in the fast- paced world of today. Seeking to find the sublime she actively immerses herself in the landscape, her muse. Experiencing the rawness and beauty it allows a freedom of expression and an energy that reflects its phenomenal power. For Ruth, living on the edge and risk plays in to her work as much as her life. Always pushing boundaries and finding the sublime.

Ruth's work is honest and a true reflection on her fascination and passion for the natural world. It is also work that asks questions; bringing awareness to issues such as the climate crisis we currently face and mental health disability.

Ruth Bateman’s paintings are a conflation of an internal and external landscape. Ruth has been striving to be heard. As someone who is neurodivergent, she has felt like an outsider for much of her life. Painting is an expression and celebration of her difference. It is a refusal to be contained or silenced.

Ruth has a primal connection to wilderness. She explores the landscape with her body: rock-climbing, mountaineering, cycling, feeling the earth rumble through her. This bodily experience of landscape is reflected in the kinetic way Ruth creates her paintings. Often working on enormous bedsheets, she allows herself to be entirely instinctive with paint. At the beginning, the marks are frenzied, the choices of colour entirely innate. She feels like an instrument, like a force is working through her. She is responding to what the paint itself is calling for.

At the beginning, there are no rules. It is a bodily explosion: ‘sometimes I feel like I’m dancing with the paint brush and at others I feel like I’m stabbing with a knife,’ she says. This is tempered by a period of gestation. She will walk away from the canvas, allowing it to develop and responding to what it needs in a more considered way.

There is an undeniable ecological element to Ruth’s work. The pain and chaos she is communicating is reflective of both her own pain and the planet’s. There is despair and destruction in these pieces, reflective of the wounds inflicted on the earth. The climate crisis and the way humanity is securing its own destruction is handled with honesty. These tumultuous marks suggest anarchy but also a surety and a resilience. Light occupies the spaces in between the frenzied marks, pulling us through, giving us hope. Amongst all the turmoil, light prevails. Green shoots will grow, the clouds will break, a voice will be heard. Kate reeve-edwards 2023

This downloadable CV includes my experience as a workshop facilitator

Exhibitions & Achievements

2024

• 30 Nov - 11 Jan: Contemporary British Painting Prize 2024, Huddersfield Art Gallery @ Yorkshire Art Space, Sheffield, United Kingdom

• 1 Nov - 17 Nov: Contemporary British Painting Prize 2024, Thames-Side Studios Gallery, London, United Kingdom

• 20 Sep - 21 Sep: 'Something Different - Exploration and Development' Collaborative Residency Pop-up Show, Back Lane West, Redruth, United Kingdom

• 14 Sep - 19 Oct: Contemporary British Painting Prize 2024, Bay Art Gallery, Cardiff, United Kingdom

• 23 Aug - 21 Sep: Studio KIND. Summer Open 2024, Studio KIND., Barnstaple, United Kingdom

• May - Jun: ‘Stepping Into Ourselves’, Fringe arts bath’ 23 new bond street, Bath, United Kingdom

• Mar - Jun: Joy Street Shop Window, Joy Street Shop Window, Barnstaple

• 2 Mar - 23 Mar: Speaking Out: Changing Times, The Plough Arts Centre, Torrington, United Kingdom

• Mar - Apr: Members Gallery, CAMP, Online

• Feb - Mar: Friends of Burton Annual Open Exhibition, The Burton at Bideford Art Gallery & Museum, Bideford, United Kingdom

• 26 Jan - 1 Jun: North Devon District Hospital Group Show, North Devon District Hospital, ​​Barnstaple, United Kingdom

2023

• Dec: A Darker Christmas, Studio KIND., Braunton, United Kingdom

• Nov - Dec: The Grand Old Open, Red Car Palace, Redcar, United Kingdom

• Oct: Hope Triumphs Over Adversity, The Plough Arts Centre, Torrington, United Kingdom

• Oct - Jan: Naked Exhibition, Naked, Bideford, United Kingdom

• Jul - Aug: Summer Open 2023, Studio KIND., Braunton, United Kingdom

• Jun: Pulse - Artists Unearthed, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Penzance, United Kingdom

• Jul: Westward Ho! and Bideford Art Society Summer Exhibition, Burton Gallery and Museum, Bideford, United Kingdom

2022

• Nov: Newlyn school of Art Mentoring program Group Show, Jupiter gallery, Newlyn, United Kingdom

2021

• Dec 8th: Interwoven Connections, solo exhibition, Tawstock Court, Barnstaple.

2019

• March 30th - April 29th: Artteazen solo exhibition, Langport Somerset.

2018

• Dec 18th: MAGI exhibition – white Moose Gallery (tree decorations).

• Dec 18th: Folio Christmas print exhibition.

• Nov 18th: ‘Saunton’ - a curation - featured artist in the specially commissioned book by the Brand Hotel owners.

• Nov 18th: South Molton Museum exhibition.

• Sept 18th: North Devon Art Trek open studios.

• Sept 18th: ‘Rosemoor Open’ Art exhibition.

• July 18th: Westward Ho! and Bideford Art Society summer exhibition.

2017

• Sept 16th - 1st Oct - North Devon ART TREK open studios.

• Sept 9th - 25th - The artists garden exhibition' RHS Rosemoor.

• July 12th - 16th 'Flux' exhibition Chelsea College of Art, London.

• July 10th - 14th - 'Summer Heatwave' collaborative  Exhibition  - Lacy road gallery London.

• 27th May - 1st July - Westward Ho! and Bideford Art Society 95th summer open exhibition at the Burton Gallery and Museum Bideford.

• 1st April - 4th June - 'Out of the Woods' spring exhibition - The Byre Gallery, Mill Brook, Cornwall (featuring wire sculptures and illustrations by Ruth in collaboration with other leading artists).

• Jan 2017 - solo exhibition at The Landmark Theatre Ilfracombe.

2016

• Sept 2016 - NDArttrek - open studios.

• Sept 2016 - RHS Rosemoor Artist Garden Exhibition.

• June 2016 - Sculpture and Mural workshops with Swimbridge Primary School's 150th Birthday celebrations.

• June 2016 - Swimbridge School Stream side garden bug Hotel wire workshop community event.

2015

• Dec 2015 – accredited freelance DAISI teacher and creative facilitator.

• Nov – Dec – Private commission for ‘the creative cow’ theatre company in conjunction with Northcott theatre Exeter - prop creation for ‘A Christmas Carol’ production.

• Oct 2015 - Boston Tea Party solo exhibition.

• Aug 2015 - ‘Singfest’ Art Exhibition, Swimbridge. Showcasing work by myself alongside three other Swimbridge Artists.

• Aug 2015 – Work displayed at BroomHill Sculpture Gardens - Devon.

• Aug 2015 - Rosemoor national trust 'the artists garden' exhibition.

• July 2015 - Privately commissioned paintings for London Hotel - Cadogan Gardens - Knightsbridge

• July 2015 – Commission for North Devon Theatre/Alantic Coast Theatre Company – ‘Adam’s Family’ production.

• May 2015 - Private Commissioned large wall mural for Pilton Bluecoat Primary school.

• March 2015 - Paid and Voluntary work with ‘The Common Players’ Theatre Company working on set and props for ‘Impisi ‘ a theatre production by Special Needs Students.

• 23rd March - 25th March 2015: Wire workshop with Eight gifted and talanted students (ranging from year 3 – year 5) at Pilton Bluecoat primary school lead and facilitated by myself.

2014

• Dec 2014 - Private Commission for Large Scale Wall Mural painting.

• November 3rd 2014 - 5th 2014 -Painting Workshop with Piton Bluecoat Infants (huge mural on canvas's created with 180 infants over two days).

• May 2014 - June 2014 - Lourghrigg art gallery South Molton - promises to self re-launch exhibition.

• March 2014 - April 2014 - The Plough Arts Centre Torrington: ‘Promise to Self exhibition’ showcasing four independent woman artists – comprising of each individuals take on woman and following and implementing their creative dreams.

Grants and Awards

• Oct 2024: Flourishing Barnstaple Cultural Development Fund, North Devon Council

• Sep 2024: Hosted Gatherings - How Can I Stay?, Visual Art South West

• Sep 2023: Community Sparks Fund, North Devon Council

• May 2023: Eaton Grant, Eaton Trust

• Oct 2022: Conserver Award, John Muir Awards

Residencies

• 1 Sep 2024 - 21 Sep 2024: 'Something Different - Exploration and Development' Collaborative Residency, Back Lane West, Redruth, United Kingdom

• Dec 2023 - Jan 2024: Residency with Newlyn School of Arts Mentoring Group, Back Lane West, Redruth, United Kingdom

Curatorial Work

• Dec 2023 - Dec 2023: A Darker Christmas, Studio Kind, Curator, Jody Medland, Braunton, United Kingdom