- Venue
- Gallery Oldham
- Date
- Saturday, August 19, 2023
10:00 AM - Address
- Greaves Street, Oldham, OL1 1AL
- Location
- North West England
- Organiser
- Castlefield Gallery
Visit and curator talk: Devotions to the Goddess Flora, an exhibition of new work by Ruth Moilliet at Gallery Oldham
Register and further info at https://spark-14.eventbrite.co.uk
Please meet at the exhibition at 10am in gallery 2 for an introduction by artist Ruth Moilliet and a chance to view the exhibition, followed by a talk at 10.30am with Patricia Francis, Natural History Curator and Exhibition Co-ordinator. Patricia, who curated the exhibition, will discuss the Natural History links in the exhibition and how it links to environmental issues, referencing the breadth of the Natural History collection at Gallery Oldham (geology, zoology and botany) and her work with artists.
Ruth has always used plants and nature as inspiration for her work, celebrating their abundance and beauty. With a heightened realisation of how climate change is affecting our environment, in recent years Ruth’s sculptures have taken on a different meaning.
The exhibition’s title comes from a quote used in an essay by a local Victorian botanist Thomas Rogers. He and three others travelled from the local area to the Scottish Highlands to study and collect mountain plant species. A further expedition included the botanist James Nield, who wrote a second essay. These papers, along with accompanying watercolour illustrations were preserved together in a unique and beautifully bound book, Botanical Excursions, Breadalbane and Grampians 1874-1876. The species they collected are adapted to thrive in harsh, cold conditions and are now endangered as our climate warms.
Ruth has responded to the plight of these and other endangered plant species from around the world by creating larger-than-life sculptures, made from discarded single use plastics.
