In her Hands-on Workshops, Ruth Marshall shares stories and techniques of charting and knitting the beautiful and complex patterns found in nature. These workshops relay practical Math and Science skills in fresh ways while exploring wildlife conservation.
Charting:
Participants get applicable skills on how to interpret and document an image or visual on their own. Marshall discusses and demonstrates the process she uses when charting pelts of live animals at Zoos or in archives of leading institutions. Participants of all ages are given means to utilize traditional Math (mapping skills) and Science (Natural Sciences) in a contemporary, creative way.Prerequisites: None.
Duration: 2-3hrs
Group Size: 20
Materials: NA / Ruth Marshall brings examples, charting paper, colored pencils and resource materials.
Intermediate knitters are taught unconventional intarsia techniques that Marshall uses to create her textile pelts of live animals at Zoos or in archives of leading institutions. Participants see how the artist translates intricate patterns in nature to a grid which will serve as a knitting chart. Attendees will each create a 4” knitted square chart which they will then knit during the workshop using two or more contrasting colors.Prerequisites: Participants should know how to knit and purl.
Duration: 2-3hrs
Group Size: 20
Materials: Students bring a pair of size 6 or 7 knitting needles and two or more colors of worsted yarn. / Ruth Marshall brings examples, charting paper, colored pencils and resource materials.
Lectures:Experience:
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING Highlights:2013 Guest Speaker, Red Chair Artist Talk / Melbourne, Australia.
2013 Eltham High School.
2012 Guest Speaker, Textiles Society of America Symposium / Washington D.C.
2012 Lecture Series, University of Maine Museum of Art / Bangor, ME
2012 Guest Speaker, Holbrook School Bangor / ME
2012 Guest Speaker, Brewer Community School / Brewer / ME
2012 Guest Speaker, Big Apple Knitting Guild / New York, NY
2011 Guest Artist, VOGUE Knitting Conference / New York, NY
2010 Knitting Workshop Series, Wave Hill Cultural Center / New York, NY
2010 Lecture, Wave Hill Cultural Center / New York, NY
2010 Guest Artist Series, Museum of Arts & Design / New York, NY
2009 Knitting Workshop Series, Hunterdon Art Museum / Clinton, NJ
2009 Lecture, Lower Manhattan Public School 150, New York, NY
05-09 Lecture / Liaison to public schools, in conjunction Bronx Zoo Ed Dept / Bronx, NY
TEACHING:
2004 - Present - Fine Art Instructor / School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
Australian Ruth Marshall received a BFA in sculpture and printmaking at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Marshall was awarded the Samstag Scholarship to attend Pratt Institute in Brooklyn where she got her MFA. Marshall has became internationally known for her hand knit pelts of exotic animals endangered by the illegal skin trade. Each of her one-of-a-kind textiles represents an individual animal she spends months researching.
Exhibits: Brooklyn Botanical Garden / Montsalvat, Barn Gallery, Australia / Maine Museum of Art, 2012 / MASS Art/ Museum of Arts and Design in New York City / Textile Museum in Washington, DC / Indiana State Museum / San Jose Museum / Scottsdale Museum / Hunterdon Museum / Worked with: / The Bronx Zoo / The Museum of Natural History in New York City / The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven / Residences / MAD Museum in New York City / Monsalvat in Melbourne / Wave Hill in the Bronx / DSG in Berlin / Press / New York Times / VOGUE / NY DAILY NEWS / NPR / Surface Magazine / To be published in "Craft Activism" published by Random House, release date Sept '11.
A letter from a young fan who visited my "Vanished into Stitches" exhibition at Montsalvat, Melbourne, Australia, 2013.
