About
Ruth Allen is a Melbourne based multi-media artist primarily working with glass, light, kinetics and the poetics of experience. Ruth has two strands to her professional practice, her Artwork and Community Cultural Development projects, both of which nurture her creative spirit.
Ruth Allen’s history stems from the Canberra School of Art, Australian National University where she studied under Klaus Moje, Elizabeth McClure and the late Stephen Procter. Ruth graduated in 1993 and embarked upon world travels including Japan, United States, Europe and New Zealand. Ruth attended and conducted workshops, exhibited, undertook residencies and worked consistently with ideas.
Between 1996 and 2000 Ruth co-directed a hot glass studio and glass art business in Auckland, New Zealand. The business, Gloria produced a wide range of high quality and unique blown glass forms for private commissions and galleries. The business exhibited regularly and developed extensive contacts within the Australian, New Zealand and the international art community.
Alongside the pursuit of her own practice Ruth has nourished a passion for Community Cultural Development (CCD). During the management of her own business in New Zealand, Ruth realized the necessity to educate colleagues, gallery curators and the general public, about context, concepts and methodology of the Contemporary Glass Movement. Ruth realized that if your community and audience do not understand the work the power to effect and change a viewer’s perception of things is minimized. This realization prompted her to accept the nomination for President of the New Zealand Society of Artists in Glass (NZSAG) and develop the educational programme of workshops/conference/exhibitions titled Pacific Light (PL). PL was orchestrated in 1998 and involved seven workshops focusing on various disciplines of glass practice, a ten-day residency, three-day conference and a series of exhibitions showcasing the work of national and international glass artists.
Gloria dissolved in early 2000 enabling Ruth to return to Australia and resume a more artistic practice. Ruth moved to Melbourne to complete a Master of Fine Arts (research) degree, majoring in Glass and Sculpture at Monash University. Her graduating exhibition was extensive with more than 200 individual glass forms illuminated by projected light and accompanied by audio compositions. Ruth continues to work in a large scale and sculptural installation context, often collaborating with multi-media artists to develop and actualize her ideas.
Currently, Ruth commutes between the newly established Canberra Glassworks and Philip Stokes Studio, located within the historic Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne. Both facilities manage an artist gallery, workshops and access to specialized equipment for professional practitioners. The events programmed through these venues are educative, accessible and inter-active. Ruth continues to facilitate CCD projects in various roles, directing workshops, outreach programs, managing large scaled events and publicly speaking. Her practice is varied and appropriated to venues, contexts and concepts, her varied repertoire allows Ruth to move between a variety of mediums and environments to express herself.
