Sculpture

Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Prize

In 2023, Ruth had the artwork below, ‘Feast or Famine’, accepted in the ‘Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Prize’. It is part of a much larger body of work in which Ruth returns to her fascination with the minutiae of the natural world, particularly the diversity and beauty of leaves, sometimes contrasted with the sad, negative beauty of discarded human-made items.

About ‘Feast or Famine’, Ruth said:

The cycles of nature are a recurring feature of our natural world. They regularly swing from bountiful harvests to bleak times of frugality and back again. This is the rhythm that humanity has known and used to its advantage for millennium.

Changing climate patterns threaten this delicate equilibrium. Once set in motion, this is a cascading series of events with an unknowable outcome. Slick technical fixes alone will not undo the extensive damage to this sophisticated and interconnected web of life.

This paired artwork seeks to acknowledge this fine balancing act that keeps our environment healthy and liveable. The fragility of the artwork is a reflection of this state of the planet and the vulnerability of life itself.”

Feast or Famine

NORTHERN BEACHES Sydney

Feast or Famine (Fig leaves, Jacaranda needles, 140 cm H)

Feast or Famine (detail).

Sculpture by the Sea

BONDI BEACH Sydney and COTTESLOE BEACH Perth

In collaboration with Geoff Webster, Ruth has been selected for a number of site-specific artworks for ‘Sculpture by the Sea’ exhibitions in Bondi NSW, Cottesloe WA and Aarhus Denmark. ‘Sculpture by the Sea’ is Australia’s largest annual outdoor sculpture exhibition. It features sculptures by both Australian and overseas artists and draws immense crowds – estimated at between 450,000 to 500,000 people in Sydney in 2014.