The Society of Spectacle and what ‘appearance’ signifies for writers

Ruth HartleyArt Process, Creativity, Film, Identity, Politics, Promotion, Reading, Visual ArtsLeave a Comment

Marketing books and the writer as commodity I didn’t know yesterday what I would post today until a television programme last night that was supposed to be amusing made me angry. There was noisy laughter, mockery and four-letter words. Frankie Boyle, the presenter joked that Guy Debord had shot himself in his heart – or  – maybe his head – […]

Spain, Flamenco, Ladino and Duende

Ruth HartleyArt Process, Music, Songs, Visual Arts2 Comments

A few days in Seville               I have an odd relationship with Spain. I knew very little about Spain and yet, curiously, it is an intimate part of my family, and therefore, of me. This is how it began for me. My grandfather was a wool-broker from Manchester who traded in Buenos Aires, Argentina, […]

Géraldine de Haan Photographer: ‘Along the way’

Ruth HartleyArt Process, Family, Imagination, Photography, Visual ArtsLeave a Comment

Géraldine De Haan, photographer and friend I’m lucky to know Géraldine. She is an extraordinary photographer and a stalwart friend. She works tirelessly and quietly at her own photography, but is essential to the Quinzaine de l’Image organised by Peleyre Association and John Eden. She also curates art exhibitions brilliantly. I know. She helped me with my Corpus exhibition at […]

Issam Kourbaj, artist and mentor – “Dark Water, Burning World”

Ruth HartleyArt Process, Creativity, Displacement, Family, Human rights, Migration, Refugee, Visual Arts, War1 Comment

Wonderful good fortune Sometimes you know that you have been really lucky! I was when I met Issam Kourbaj, a Syrian artist in Cambridge. I can’t remember who told me about Issam’s workshops but I went along to one without a clue about what to expect. Possibly I heard about Issam from someone at Cambridge Artworks where I had a […]

Robert Loder and his gift to Zambian artists of the Triangle International Artists Workshops

Ruth HartleyArt Process, Creativity, Southern Africa, Visual Arts, Zambia6 Comments

Making Art This blog is a tribute to Robert Loder, a great and generous person. Some of the best things that happened to me in Zambia were because I met Robert Loder and he involved me in his passion for setting up artists’ workshops. “Making art is what is important,” Robert said to me one day. I have never forgotten […]