Women and art

Ruth HartleyEducation, Feminism, Race, Southern Africa, Visual Arts, ZambiaLeave a Comment

Women’s Art from the Lechwe Heritage Collection The Lechwe Trust in Lusaka, Zambia, has an exhibition of art created by women from this Sunday, 8th March, International Women’s Day. I’m honoured to be included in it and to share the space with so many other artists I know and admire. There are a total of 32 artists – many with […]

Connections between art, politics, and change in South Africa and Zambia

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Apartheid, Art Process, Colonialism, Creativity, Design, Education, Human rights, Identity, Imagination, Justice, Mpapa Gallery, Politics, Printmaking, Racism, South Africa, Southern Africa, Visual Arts, When I Was Bad, ZambiaLeave a Comment

Andrew Verster, the best teacher I had Andrew Verster died on Sunday 16th February 2020. In 1964, After graduating from Camberwell School of Art and Reading University, he taught me painting at the Michaelis School of Art, University of Cape Town. He was a wonderful teacher – one whom I will never forget because of his kindness and the attention […]

Lutanda Mwamba’s story, Mpapa Gallery and the Lechwe Trust Exhibition

Ruth HartleyArt Process, Creativity, Education, Mpapa Gallery, Printmaking, Southern Africa, Visual Arts, Zambia9 Comments

Teaching O level art at the ISL I was teaching O level art at the International School of Lusaka in 1982 when I first noticed a student called Lutanda Mwamba. He had a gift for drawing. I praised his work but he said he wanted to be an engineer. I didn’t argue. Life was hard then in Zambia particularly for […]

What a writer does and doesn’t do all day

Ruth HartleyArt Process, Book Publishing, Books by Ruth Hartley, Education, Imagination, Music, Promotion, Reading, Writing Process1 Comment

All beginnings are hard – just look at the time already! It’s a good morning’s work when I sit down at my laptop in my pyjamas, before breakfast, ignore my husband, begin at once to write, and then carry on for hours. There were many a good night’s work done when, as a single woman, I wrote after supper, then […]

Tomorrow Mountain and the writing of Today’s Stories

Ruth HartleyEducation, Politics, Southern Africa, The Tin Heart Gold Mine21 Comments

Tomorrow Mountain today There were debts to be paid. I knew that. I hope that I’ve made a small repayment in The Tin Heart Gold Mine. When I was a girl of 16 I lived with my mother and stepfather one day’s walk from Tomorrow Mountain. It stood out against the sky, a long shape humped at both ends like […]