Ruth Singer started her career in museums telling stories through objects and history. She worked with many artists and craft makers who inspired her to tell stories through her own work. She now leads Culture of Care, an Arts Council England-funded project exploring how artist activities and creative practice contribute to a culture of care.
How did you find yourself on an artist’s path? Always there? Lightbulb moment?
I didn’t even think of being an artist until I was about 30 and well into my chosen career of museums. In my last employed role I worked a lot with artists and craft makers and they really inspired me to at least try it. I worked part time as an arts freelancer and part time as a maker for several years and there’s still a bit of both in my work. I do very different things now 18 years on but I still love both sides of creative practice.
What motivates you artistically?
Really it’s still museums, all these years on. I work with museums and heritage collections quite a lot, as well as other areas. But the museum training and grounding I had in telling stories through objects, histories, through making and materials and through communicating with people is what still guides me now.
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Tell us more about your Cultures of Care project. How did this come about?
In 2021 I decided to stop my long-term project Criminal Quilts after many years working on it. I spent a long time working out what my next big project would be. It’s quite a big pressure trying to decide what’s coming after a really successful project, and my thinking went in lots of different directions over a year or two.
These things take a lot of slow thinking, research, reflection to get right. My other projects over the last 10 years or so have been exhibitions full of emotional and personal stories, acts of creative care, community projects, and developing a sharing based practice around networks and supporting other artists.
Looking back, the concept of care in my practice was clearly all there all along, but I didn’t really see it until last year when I ran Making Meaning Live Gathering; three days of talks from artists and creatives about the meaning behind what we make. And although this was branded alongside my podcast, Making Meaning, it came creatively from my criminal quilts project and my other exhibitions where I’d been making work with a depth of narrative or meaning for a number of years.
So I decided to build a project about care and about how my artwork is about care and my freelance work is also about care. I applied for funding from Arts Council England and was successful with that in early 2023 so I’ve got started with community projects, supported space in my Maker Membership and developing some of my own work for a showcase in the spring of 2024.
How can other artists adjust their creative practice(s) and actvities to contribute to a culture of care?
Often many artists are working around themes of care, sometimes without realising it, like with me. When artists are working on something that is true to their values and creative voice they are working with care for themselves. Or if you find you are working on things that don’t reflect your values or your beliefs, maybe it’s time to question that and find a way of working that cares for the things that matters to you.
Tell us more about your Making Meaning journal. What can readers expect? What is the most important takeaway from it?
Making Meaning Journal is my new space for sharing my writing about my work. Writing is as important to me creatively as making and there’s nothing I love more than combining the two. So Making Meaning Journal is long form writing about why I do what I do and the meanings behind what I make. This first issue is mostly about Cultures of Care, some of the projects and ideas I’m working on and exploring different ways to talk about why I do what I do. It’s 40 pages and full of images and I guess several thousand words..I haven’t counted!
When is your most productive creative time?
Spring and Summer, without a doubt. I kind of run out of steam in winter, and prefer to hibernate than try and do too much. Living with cats turned me into a morning person so in summer season I get up early and I work in the morning and early afternoon. I never work in the evening if I can avoid it, except on pottering around tidying the studio kind of jobs.
Describe your creative space.
My studio is a large room in my otherwise very small house. It’s supposed to be the sitting room but I consider the largest and lightest room to be the one for working in. It’s stuffed full of antique furniture, cabinets and boxes, textiles on the walls, books floor to ceiling. It’s got a bit of a feel of an over-stuffed old haberdashery shop which I remember from my early childhood. That’s my aim anyway!
Do you use a sketchbook or journal? How does that help your work develop?
I use lots of different books. I keep a written journal, a place for reflective practice and thinking about my work and creative ideas. I also keep project books, my term for sketchbooks I suppose. They are usually thematic and I usually have several on the go. I collect imagery, writing, notes, scribbles and plans, drawings and samples and all kinds of things in between. Sharing my project books combination of collecting, drawing, writing and planning has been really useful for others to see. I write about them and share them in my Maker Membership and usually include a project book in exhibitions too as I know how much others find them inspiring.
How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?
I have too many on the go at any time. I have freelance or artist support projects as well as creative making projects. Sometimes those things overlap in the same project. I also do plenty of community projects which are a combination of both. I am trying to resolve things a bit and only have one or two major projects going on a time, so all under my Cultures of Care project, but it never really works like that and I do tend to have to split my days across very different ways of working.
Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about?
It’s hugely variable, but research is the root of everything I do. that can be reading books like history or archaeology, it can be visiting museums, it can be talking to people or collecting stories. Sometimes ideas are sparked by work in progress when I see new directions I could take. And I also work a lot in collaboration with other artists so their imagination is also hugely influential in what I do.
Which part of the design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you?
I don’t really have a design process for artwork, it’s much more organic than planning, designing, then making. In my freelance work I design projects and I really do love that part. Making connections with artists and organisations, coming up with concepts and ways to work with communities, articulating this into funding applications and proposals. That bit is great.
With my making work, of course the actual stitching is often the best bit, although I LOVE the stage of trying to take an idea into cloth and getting lots of possible fabrics out and making some samples. That’s full of possibility and endlessly inspiring.
Is there an overarching theme that connects all of your work?
It’s care, without a doubt. I make artwork about things I care deeply about and I support others to do their best work because I care about creative people being about to express themselves, be treated with respect and having the opportunity to change their own and the wider world.
What kinds of creative projects are your favorites?
Collaborations, I love working with others. I don’t work alone all that much really with a lot of online connections and also in person with other artists and local community groups. The energy of sharing ideas and inspiration is a wonderful thing.
How is your work different than it was in the beginning? How is it the same?
Hugely different! I was telling an artist I work with a lot that I used to make very colourful products in my early days and she was shocked! I started out making fashion and interior accessories in vintage and natural fabrics. I haven’t made a bag, scarf or cushion for over a decade now. I loved what I did then but what I do now has the meaning and impact I was always looking for.
Where can people see your work?
My website is the best place: ruthsinger.com
Learn more about Ruth and her projects:
Cultures of Care https://ruthsinger.com/cultures-of-care/
Maker Membership https://ruthsinger.com/membership/
Journal https://ruthsinger.com/journal/
Criminal Quilts https://ruthsinger.com/criminalquilts/
Project books: https://ruthsinger.com/2021/11/06/project-books/
Making Meaning Live Gathering https://ruthsinger.com/podcast/making-meaning-live/
Interview posted December 2023
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