Ruth Lee (born 1948, Coventry, UK) is a textile artist, print-maker and visual story teller, currently living in Central Portugal, having relocated from Cumbria, United Kingdom April 2013.

Education, employment and selected commissions

First-class hons degree in printed textiles (1971) from Liverpool Polytechnic, Postgraduate qualification from Birmingham Polytechnic (1972) in printed textiles.

1976 -1983 Designer knitwear partnerships based in St Ives, Cornwall and latterly Bristol. Selling mainly to the USA through an agency based in Los Angeles; clients included Niemann Marcus, Bendels, Bloomindales and Saks, selling also to Harrods and Browns in the UK.

1983-2008 Ruth combined lecturing at Cumbria Institute of the Arts with a varied freelance career in art and design as a fibre artist, designer-maker, writer, national and international workshop tutor including Australia and new Zealand, speaker for various guilds, galleries and adult education institutions and the Design for Knitting study day at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. October 2004

Commissioned to create works for private and public spaces, Ruth created a large-scale textile construction for the main dining room at Higham Hall College, Cockermouth, Cumbria completed in 2012.

February 2015 Ruth was invited to work with the specialist textile students at Escola Artistica, Soares de Reis, Porto, Portugal, student work to be included in a public exhibition January 2016.

Current Exhibition

October 2^nd – 29^th October 2020 “Roses in January?” Solo exhibition Casa da Mutualidade -Galeria de Arte e Centro de Mutualismo d`A Previdência Portuguesa, Coimbra Portugal

Upcoming Exhibitions

Spring 2021 dates and exhibition title yet to be confirmed Casa do Tempo, Castanheira de Pera, Portugal

Selected Exhibitions

December 2018 -February 2019 Ponto Sombra/Connecting Threads. Solo exhibition Recordatorio

Rainha Santa Isabel/Afredo Bastos, Santa Clara, Coimbra, Portugal

August 2016. Imagined landscapes. Exhibition of new works Crypt Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall, United Kingdom.

Espirito de Andorinhas. June 2015 Solo exhibition Casa da Cultura de Gois, Central Portugal: Art textiles, prints and mixed media works. Large scale work selected for Gois Open Art July 2015

Tomorrow at Daybreak 2011 and 2012: exhibition of digitally-printed textile art works The Knitting and Stitches shows, London, Harrogate and Dublin organised by Twisted Thread and The Howgill Gallery, Farfield Mill Arts and Heritage Centre, Sedbergh, Cumbria. Celebrating the handmade in a digital age by taking advantage of new technologies to enhance traditional working practice.

Reading between the Lines: 2007, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia and Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries, Scotland, supported by Cumbria Institute of the Arts and The Arts Council of Great Britain.

Knit 2 Together-Concepts in Knitting: 2005. Crafts CouncilGallery, London. Two pieces of work selected for major touring exhibition of contemporary knitting. Toured to Leicester City Gallery and The Oriel Davies Gallery, Wales.

Made from Memory 2004 solo fibre-arts exhibition created in response to the fashion/textile collection at Pickford’s House Museum of Georgian Costume, Derby.

Inside Out June 2003 solo exhibition of mixed media and fibre-arts work both inside the museum and within the grounds, inspired by and reflecting the peace and tranquility of Norton Priory, Cheshire.

Selected Publications

Three-dimensional Textiles with Coils, Loops, Knots and Nets ( 2010) and Contemporary Knitting for Textile Artists: 2007. German translation 2008. Published by Batsford (Anova Books). 2013 commissioned to write a chapter for Approaches to Stitch, published by D4daisybooks

Residencies

Selected for AA2A (Artist Access to Art College) at the University of Cumbria. printed textile resource area 2008 and subsequently in 2011, based at the University of Central Lancashire, exploring the links between traditional printmaking and digital image-making processes. These opportunities have informed much of Ruth’s current working practice.