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Ruth Calland is a painter, performer, curator and Jungian analyst. They have a special interest in alchemy and the emergence of the new, as part of the processes of creativity, healing, decolonisation and social change.  They are currently working towards solo shows at 20:21 Arts Centre in Lincolnshire, and Hastings Museum & Art Gallery.

Their new painting series ‘Pin Ups’ celebrates and explores transgender and non-binary expression, and their own non-binary identity. Their paintings from this series are representations of gender-expansive people that they relate to and admire – for showing courage, creativity, compassion and inventiveness. They aim to amplify these voices through referencing imagery found on social media platforms, often using stills from videos, selecting moments that convey a combination of vulnerability, power, and centredness.

The format is based loosely on the popstar pin up pages in the ‘Jackie’ magazine of the 1970’s, where idols such as Marc Bolan and David Bowie were seen to play around with gender variance. Like the Jackie pin ups, these images are framed with sweet strong colours, emphasising that the person inside deserves to be looked at, has something to offer, is a contemporary idol in their own way.

The online creators they connect with most are those who use natural settings for their content, elemental places with plants and wildlife. This emphasises that what used to be thought of as ‘natural’ is currently in the process of being redefined by gender expansive practices: what Ruth thinks of as the ‘New Natural’ is about connection with the authentic self.

 

 

BIOGRAPHY

Ruth Calland lives and paints in London. They have been a finalist in the 2024 Exeter Open, the 2023 Barbican Arts Group Open, the  New Contemporaries and the Marmite Prize for Painting. They are a prize-winner of the CGP London Annual Open, and have shown widely including at Transition Gallery, Studio 1.1, Folkestone Triennial, Vestry House Museum and Flowers Gallery, and curated shows at APT, Walthamstow Wetlands, and Kings Lynn Arts Centre. They were included in Made In Britain, 80 Painters of the 1st Century, at Yantai Museum and touring to Nanjing and Tianjin in China in 2017, and Gdansk, Poland in 2019.

They have been a Boise Scholar, a Rome Scholar runner up, and won a Fellowship in Painting at GLOSCAT, Cheltenham. They are a recipient of grants from The Arts Council, The Henry Moore Foundation, and the London Borough of Culture 2019, amongst others.

 

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CURRICULUM VITAE

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1985    BA (Hons) in Fine Art, Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry  

1988    MA in Fine Art, Chelsea School of Art

2004    MSc in the Psychodynamics of Human Development, British Association of Psychotherapists and Birkbeck College

2018    Clinical qualification in Jungian Analytic Psychotherapy, British Psychotherapy Foundation, London

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SOLO SHOWS and CURATED PROJECTS

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2025    (forthcoming) This is All the Treasure We Can Have or Hold, 20:21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, touring

            to Hastings Museum & Art Gallery in 2026

2022    Residency presentation of work and discussion: Pasture Project Space, Sudbury, UK's 

2021    Darkness at Noon: Nigredo of a Pandemic, APT Gallery, London (curator)

            Darkness at Noon panel event for Contemporary British Painting,(curator and panellist), online 

2019    Archipelago: Islands of the Wetlands (curator), Walthamstow Wetlands, London

2014    Not Yet Dead Nearly (curator), King’s Lynn Arts Centre

2014    No You, No Wonder It's Dark, The Warrant Officer, London

2013    Social Drawing Machine, Dance Camp East, Norfolk 

2012    Hermaphrodite Wedding, B & B Project Space, Folkestone

2012    Hermaphrodite Wedding, English Heretic AGM, Masonic Lodge, Bath  

2011    Corrupted Vessels, The Yard theatre bar, London 

2011    Carnival of Souls, B & B Gallery, part of Vernacular Folk, Folkestone Triennial Fringe Program

            Carnival of Souls, Penny Fielding Interiors, E17 Art Trail, London

2010    Astral Gunslinger, E17 Art Trail, London

2009    Just a Little Dance To Help Me See Into Your Soul, L-13 Gallery, London 

2008    Countess Euphoria’s Telepathic Dating Agency, E17 Arts Trail 

2007   ‘Dame Batlove’s Blind Fortune Telling, with Psychic Sauce‘, ‘O Dreamland’, Greatstone, curated by the Transition Gallery 

            Yes Yes Y’all, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery; curated by Adelaide Bannerman 

2006    Professor Timecreep Demonstrates The Love of a Television for its Memories, Three Colts, London 

            Professor Timecreep’s Academy of Re-Wiring, Vestry House Museum, London 

2005    Esme, Transmuter of Dreams, performance drawings, The Foundry, London 

            Countess Euphoria’s Telepathic Tête-à-têtes, Lloyds Park Theatre, London as part of News From Nowhere: Visions of Utopia 

            Hepsibah’s Spirit Parlour, Vestry House Museum, London 

            Radmilla Click, Time-Travelling Secret Agent, The Foundry, London 

            Live performance of ‘Radmilla Click’ on Radio Resonance fm 

            Esme, Transmuter of Dreams, The Artists Fleamarket, Temporary Contemporary 

            The Social Drawing Machine, Transition, London

1997    Mothers’ Suite, Doncaster Museum & Art Gallery 

1996    Mothers’ Suite, Atlantis Gallery, London 

 

 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS

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2025    This Year's Model III, Studio 1.1, London

            A Bag of Hope, a Box of Tears, curated by Karl Bielik, Garage, London

2024    Exeter Phoenix Open, selected by Matt Burrows, Jes Fernie, Tania Kovats

            BEEP, Elysium Gallery, Swansea 

            THERE IS NO LONGER NO, curated by Karl Bielik, Terrace Gallery and Pictorem, London

            'Between Heaven and Earth', curated by Min Angel, Blink and You'll Miss It, Safehouse 1, London

            Slow Painting, curated by Laura Porter and Contemporary British Painting, Studio Kind & Plough Arts Centre, Barnstaple

            Assembly, curated by Paula MacArthur, Geraldine Swayne, Susan Absolon, Joe Packer, Rye Creative Centre

2023    Artworks Open 2023, Barbican Arts Group Trust, selected by Jasleen Kaur and Rudy Loewe

            Conference presenter; Alchemy: Exploring Metaphorical Transformations and Arts-Based Research, (London Arts Based Research                Centre), at Oxford University.

            It’s Coming from Inside, (part of Windows and Thresholds), at Bell House, part of Dulwich Festival, curated by Sarah Sparkes and              Jane Millar

            The Flesh and the Answer, curated by Jack Trodd, auction for the Hep C Trust

            ‘X’, Newcastle Contemporary, Newcastle

2022    Paint Edgy: Contemporary British Painting & Guests, The Ropewalk Gallery, Barton on Humber

            Stand Close and Breathe Me In, curated by Enzo Marra, Elysium, Swansea

            Vitalistic Fantasies, Elysium, Swansea

            On Paper, curated by Matthew Macaulay, PAPER, Manchester

            Frequencies (for Healing), curated by Hayley Lock, at the Confer/Karnac Art Space, London.

            Speaker, panel event at Frequencies (for Healing): Exploring an ecological view of the psyche. A conversation between Dr Joe                  Cambray, Ruth Calland & Serena Korda.

            Paradoxes, Quay Arts, Newport, Isle of Wight

2021    Stand Close and Breathe Me In, curated by Enzo Marra, Oceans Apart, Salford 

            Stand Close and Breathe Me In, Pineapple Black, Middlesbrough

2020    Vitalistic Fantasies, The Cello Factory, London

            Picture Palace, Transition Gallery

2019    Afterparty, Rose and Crown, Art Night London

            Artislands film shown at the E17 International Art Festival

            Blind Sale, LUVA Gallery, London

            The Art Trail in a Nutshell, Window Gallery, London

            Made In Britain, 82 Painters of the 21st Century, National Museum, Gdansk 

2018    Rituals and Rites, Artcore, Derby

            Coventry Drawing Prize, Classroom Gallery, Coventry 

            Osman’s Xmas Bazaar! Studio 1.1, London (selected by public vote). 

            New Painting, The Crypt, St Marylebone Church, London 

            Coventry University Drawing Prize, The Telegraph Building, Coventry

2017    Contemporary Masters from Britain: 80 British Painters of the 21st Century, Yantai Museum and touring to Nanjing and Tianjin

            Anything Goes, Contemporary British Painting, curated by Anna McNay, Art Bermondsey Project Space, London

            In Dreams, Menier Gallery, London

2016    Coventry University Drawing Prize

            Contemporary British Painters Winter Exhibition, The Crypt, St Marylebone Church, London 

2015    Members Show (Red and Black), Studio 1.1, London

            Coventry University Drawing Prize: Lewis Gallery, Rugby, and touring to Hinckley College 

            Contemporary British Painting, Winter Exhibition, The Crypt, St Marylebone Church, London 

2014    This Years Model 2014, Studio 1.1, London 

            Art/Converters! Studio 1.1, London 

            The Coventry University Elliotts Drawing Prize, The Lewis Gallery, Rugby School and touring to the Lanchester Gallery, Coventry 

2013    Coventry University Drawing Prize 

            British Psychotherapy Foundation Summer Show 

            Roll Over Play Dead, Stour Space, London. Curated by Martin Brown 

            Summer Show, Penny Fielding, London 

2012    Good Times Roll, High Roller Society, London

            ‘Loom’ (film), Penny Fielding Interiors, London 

            Walthamstow International Film Festival, London 

            400 Women, Sugar City, Halfweg, The Netherlands

            Coventry University Drawing Prize 2012, Lewis Gallery, Rugby                 

2011    Republic, Red Room Gallery, London. Curated by David Sullivan

            400 Women, Canongate Venture, Edinburgh Festival 

            Coventry University and Seawhite Drawing Prize 2011, Lewis Gallery, Rugby

            The Moment of Privacy Has Passed, Usher Gallery, Lincoln 

2010    400 Women, curated by Tamsyn Challenger, Shoreditch Town Hall             

             Hackney Wicked Arts Festival, London

             Gallery Open (prize-winner), Southwark Café Gallery 

             Artworks Open, Artworks Project Space (curated by Graham Crowley and Timothy Hyman) 

             Stop, Press (print show), The High Roller Society, London 

             Small is Beautiful, Flowers East, London 

2009     Idle Gossip, curated by Stephanie Moran, Flat Gallery, London 

             WITH OR WITHOUT GOD; Ecstatic Wonderment and Physical Experience in Painting - and beyond, curated by Stephanie

             Moran, L-13, London 

             Artworks Open, Artworks Project Space, London 

             Drawings with Dolphins, curated by Marcus Cope and Stephanie Moran, Crimes Town, London 

             Hackney Wicked Arts Festival, London 

2008     The Marmite Prize for Painting, Studio 1.1, London 

             Small is Beautiful, Flowers East, London

             Yes Yes Y’All, curated by Adelaide Bannerman, Hastings Museum & Art Gallery 

2007     The Great Exhibition Room, Arlington Gallery, London 

             The Smoking Suffragettes, Rational Rec (with Lucy Panesar) 

2006     The Marmite Prize, The Residence, London 

             Through the Looking Glass, Three Colts, London 

2005     Flash In The Pan, House Gallery London 

             Soul Mining, with Sharon Gal & Esther Planas, Transition, London 

             The Disturbing Eye, Trade, London 

2004     We Can Work It Out, Three Colts Gallery, London 

             Tin Angel, Coventry 

             The Disturbing Eye, Pink Stallion Gallery, Manchester 

2003     Chateau de Sacy, Sacy-le-Petit, France 

             Coventry Open, Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry 

             Secret, Royal College of Art, London 

             Small is Beautiful, Flowers East, London 

2002     Drawings for All, selected by Maggie Hambling, Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury 

2001     Changing Room Gallery, London 

             Shifting Ground, Spitz Gallery, London 

1999      Love, Religion, Explosives’, St. Margaret’s Church, Norwich 

1998      Vital Art, Atlantis Gallery, London 

              Coningsby Gallery, London 

              Undercurrents, (with Capsa artists group), Woodlands Gallery, London 

1997      Guest Artist, Bedford Artists Annual Group Show, Bedford Gallery  

1996      Unquiet Voices, with the Capsa group, Doncaster Museum & Art Gallery 

              Body Politic, Wolverhampton Museum & Art Gallery. Curated by Marguerite Nugent, touring to Derby Museum & Art Gallery 

              Taboo; Sense and Sensibility, New End Gallery, London 

              Provocative Prints, New End Gallery, London 

1992      Lamont Gallery, London 

1989      Paton Gallery, London 

1987      Three Figurative Painters, Paton Gallery, London 

1986      New Contemporaries, ICA, London & Bluecoat  Gallery, Liverpool 

              Expo ‘86, National Garden Festival, Stoke-on-Trent 

 

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AWARDS

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2022     Residency, Pasture Project Space, Sudbury UK

2020     Michael Fordham Prize for best paper of 2019, International Journal of Analytical Psychology, for ‘Race, Power and Intimacy in                 the Intersubjective Field’.

2019     Waltham Forest London Borough of Culture grant (curator, Archipelago) 

2010     Prizewinner, Southwark Cafe Gallery Open

2007     Henry Moore Foundation (artist, Hastings Museum, Yes Yes Y’All)

2007     Arts Council Grant (artist, Transition Gallery: O Dreamland)

2006     Waltham Forest Arts Council Grant

1998     Art 4 All Grant (curator, Undercurrents)

1988     GLOSCAT Staff Research Grant

1987     Boise Travelling Scholarship

1987     Reserve, Rome Scholarship

1987     Fellowship in Painting, Gloscestershire College of Art & Technology, Cheltenham

 

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COLLECTIONS

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Priseman Seabrook Collection

Slade School of Art

Martin McGinn

Leicestershire Collection

British Gas plc

Coventry University

Kettner Collection

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SELECTED MEDIA and PUBLICATIONS

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A Geography of Colour, interviewed for podcast series by Ruth Philo, funded by Arts Council England:

  https:/ /podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ruth-calland/id1677928068?i=1000646839715

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Interviewed by Susie Hamilton, commissioned by Robert Priseman, to accompany the relaunch of the Priseman Seabrook Collection. 2023: https://priseman-seabrook.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Ruth-Calland.pdf

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Facilitating the emergence of hidden dissociative identity disorder: finding the lost maiden Medusa, Calland R., Journal of Analytical Psychology, Volume 67, Issue1, February 2022, pp 73-87: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-5922.12750 

 

Darkness at Noon catalogue, for show at APT Gallery London, curated by Ruth Calland for Contemporary British Painting. Published November 2021: https://www.contemporarybritishpainting.com/darkness-at-noon-alchemical-nigredo-of-a-pandemic/

 

Race, power and intimacy in the intersubjective field, Calland, R., Journal of Analytical Psychology, 2019, volume 64, no. 3, pp 367-385: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-5922.12503

 

Heron Imperatives, Damselfly Affordances, by Stephanie Moran, to accompany Archipelago: Islands of the Wetlands. https://marmaladeundertaking.wordpress.com/2019/05/28/heron-imperatives-damselfly-affordances/

 

Link to Artislands, a film about Archipelago:Islands of the Wetlands:   https://youtu.be/xNOjxv5SSVM 

 

Podcast interview with four artists from Archipelago, Forest Radio:

http://forestradio.co.uk/programmes_X.html     (podcast is in grey below youtube film)

 

Coverage of Archipelago: 

https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2019/05/31/how-to-prepare-for-an-art-trail/

 

Contemporary Masters From Britain: 80 British Painters of the 21st Century, Priseman, R.   Createspace, 2017

 

The Kaleidoscoping Self: Comings and Goings in Our Internal World, Calland, R, 2016. Paper delivered at symposium ‘The Cycle of Life in Art , Literature and Science, Coventry University, 2016

 

Coverage of No You, No Wonder It’s Dark: http://e17arttrail.blogspot.com/2014/06/shell-shock-and-psychiatry-ruth-calland.html

 

Vernacular Folk, Folkestone Fringe Program catalogue, 2012

 

Coventry University Drawing Prize 2012, catalogue

 

Coverage of photographic work from Hermaphradite Wedding:

http://englishheretic.blogspot.com/2012/10/agm-2012-minutes-miracle-of-sun-and-moon.html

 

Coventry University and Seawhite Drawing Prize 2011, catalogue

 

Marmite Painting Prize Catalogue 2011 (longlisted)

 

The Review Show, BBC2, 19/11/2010,  400 Women exhibition reviewed

 

‘An Experiment to Test Belief in Art’, Stephanie Moran 2009, L-13 gallery website: 

http://www.l-13.org/acatalog/STEPHANIE_MORAN.html

 

Drawing with Dolphins, catalogue, Crimes Town 2009

 

Russell Herron’s 500 artists (2009): www.russellherron.com

 

The Public Catalogue Foundation, Warwickshire volume, 2008

 

The Marmite Prize catalogue 2008

 

Walthamstow Guardian, Thurs June 19 2008, ‘Telepathic Love: Countess plans some euphoric art’

 

Arty, issue 24: ‘Entertainment’, June 2008, commissioned drawing, p.22

 

Kentish Express, Thurs Aug 30th 2007, ‘The Glories of the Seaside’

 

Yes Yes Y’all catalogue, Hastings Museum & Art Gallery 2007

 

Russell Herron’s blog, ‘Timecreep in Walthamstow’, 20th May 06

http://russellherron.blogspot.com/2006/05/timecreep-in-walthamstow.html

 

The Clear Spot, Radio Resonance fm, 16.5.06

 

Late Breakfast Show, guest and live performance, Radio Resonance fm, 1.7.05

 

Arty, issue 18, May 2005, Critical Friend insert, p.15, Calland, R, ‘James Jessop at Rockwell’

 

Arty, issue 18, May 2005, Critical Friend insert, p. 12, author Billy Rocker, review of ‘Soul Mining’

 

Discover Hackney March & April 2005, ‘Visual Arts: Soul Mining’

 

Green Lanes Express 3 March 2005, p. 6 ‘Soul Mining’

 

Dazed and Confused vol 2 issue 23, March 2005, p.201, Nick Hackworth,

   Previews: ‘Soul Mining: Ruth Calland, Sharon Gal, Esther Planas’

 

Arty, issue 17: ‘Eastend’, Nov 2004, Ruth Calland ‘Tree Stories’

 

Arty, issue 14: ‘Girls’, Feb 2004 p.30-31 Cathy Lomax, ‘Ruth Calland’ (interview)

 

Arty, issue 14: ‘Girls’, Feb 2004 p.32-35 ‘Ruth Calland’ 4 commissioned drawings

 

TEACHING

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2021           Society of Analytical Psychology, ‘Working with Race in the Consulting Room’. 

2020           Society of Analytical Psychology, ‘Working with Race', with Ruth Williams 

2018-20       British Psychotherapy Foundation, Psychotherapy Today course, discussion group facilitator

2019           Camden Arts Centre, 8 week course: Drawing and Painting from the Unconscious

                   Weston Park Art Club, children’s workshop on Dream Worlds

2011-18      Coventry University Fine Art BA (hons) course

2010           Chelsea College of Art 

2009-10      Guildford College 

2000           Morley College, London

1992-94      Bedford College of Higher Education (lecturer in drawing)

1989-94      Wimbledon School of Art

1988-89      South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education, Cardiff

1987-88      Teaching Fellowship in Painting, Gloscestershire College of Art & Design

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