Ruth Venner

Ruth has her own studio on Macleay Island, Queensland. To view her work, click here

Artist’s Statement

I have been an Artist/Calligrapher for about thirty years and am self-taught although my very first teacher was Donald Jackson, Queen’s scribe, who came out to Australia in 1984 to teach. At that time I had been working as a calligrapher for about three years and teaching for almost two. Learning from Donald was very much a revelation and a catalyst for me.

My second major influence was meeting Dr Lawrence Chan in Adelaide in 1988. He was a Doctor of Urology, and an expert calligrapher and painter of the Wu Chang Shu school from Shanghai. Through Dr Chan I visited China on three separate occasions, and met many Chinese Calligraphers and Painters. This influence from China has affected my work in many ways and these two people have certainly had a profound effect on me.

Sadly Dr Chan died in September 2011 after being in vegetative state for some years following a brain aneurism. I chose to honour him in the ‘Speech of the Gods’ Mark II exhibition at Hervey Bay Regional Gallery earlier that year.

And I am pleased to be currently working on ‘Speech of the Gods’ Mark III for the Redland Museum in 2014.

Tour the SPEECH OF THE GODS EXHIBITION at Hervey Bay Regional Gallery (ABC Local Stories)

I was one of the founder members of the Calligraphy Society of SA, had a studio in the prestigious Jam Factory in Adelaide, and worked part-time for the Crafts Council of SA before leaving in 1991 to live in Queensland.

My first solo Exhibition was at the Noosa Regional Gallery in 1993, and I have lived in Mapleton, Hervey Bay, the Whitsundays and in each place I have held a solo exhibition and taught.

1999 saw me cross over the border into NSW where I lived near Mount Warning, and there I was convenor of the ‘Linescape – The Spirit of Calligraphy’ Exhibition at the Tweed River Regional Gallery which showcased the works of international and Australasian calligraphers.

I moved to Macleay Island in 2005 and have had solo exhibitions at the Redland Gallery and Redland Museum and been involved in major presentations of other works at the Redland Museum - ‘Going to the Gums’ and ‘Mil Binnung’.

My oriental connection has affected my work in many ways but most specifically with regard to my thoughts about the spirit and power of the immediacy of the brush or pen.

Many years ago when I had some work in the Contemporary Craft exhibition at the Adelaide Festival Theatre I wrote

“…I just wonder where I am now and where I am going, and why,
but I do think that as I work with words,
I have to believe that I really have something to say.
And I just have to keep going, striving, searching and hoping
that I will be able to fulfil the potential that is mine”

Nothing has really changed, except that I have now finally realised that I AM part of the continuing flow of Calligraphy…