Handmade Experimental Brushes and Botanical Inks

On Saturday, Ross delivered a hugely successful Handmade Experimental Brushes and Botanical Inks Workshop at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. We were asked to deliver the workshop as park of a season of events to go with the excellent current exhibition Shōji Hamada: A Japanese Potter in Ditchling. Much like Ross… ‘Hamada developed a…

New Year, New Developments

January is always a grey and dreary month but it’s also a good time to think about the year ahead. Our first workshop is for the London Business School Student Association on Saturday and Ross is delivering Handmade Experimental Brushes and Botanical Inks at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft on the 4th March. This is part…

Journey: the rePrint & the negative

In many ways, Ross’ fascination for Japan informs his work as much as the influence of his African childhood. Concepts such as Wabi-sabi and Kintsugi have each inspired collections and installations, and classic texts such as ‘How to Wrap Five Eggs’ continue to inspire him.  There are distinct overlaps in the concept of craft from…

‘Still Life’ and the Safer World Conference 2022

Running yesterday and today is the Lloyds Register Foundation’s Safer World Conference at the Old Billingsgate, London, which brings together thought leaders from research, academia, business and government to discuss today’s biggest safety challenges and new approaches needed to create a safer world. The organisers of the event invited Ross to exhibit ‘Still Life’ in…

Natural Dyeing Course with Jenny Dean

Applications are now open for the 2022 Natural Dyeing Course at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, with renowned expert Jenny Dean, supported by our very own Ross Belton. This is the fourth time this incredibly popular course has run, and this year it will consist of 6 ‘in person’ Sundays at the Museum and…

Adornment

This series of work, Adornment, developed from the the Artefact series and the first two headdresses were shown as part of Colour Notes at the Knitting and Stitching show in 2018, but parts of this collection date to the previous year and an award winning entry to the Select Festival in Stroud. The pieces utilise…

Artefact: Adornment

Exhibited for the first time by PRISM in 2017, Artefact: Adornment forms part of Ross’ ongoing Artefact series of work. Using foliage and vegetable material is always a gamble as the longevity of the work is unknown. Ross uses no preservatives in creating these pieces, which makes their survival all the more impressive with some…

Belief

‘Belief’ started life as part of a collaboration between the Garden Museum and Morley College and was inspired by the newly reconstructed TRADESCANT ARK at The Garden Museum in 2017. The Curiosity Project explored the astonishing diversity of the recorded and surviving 17th century collection of natural, cultural, mythical and curious objects amassed by the Tradescant family…

Split Traditions

Some of these tools were wrapped to create the BalconyLife Cloth at Open September last year.Media: Obsolete blacksmithing tools, loom state cotton muslin and string. ‘Still Life’ runs at the Leicester Contemporary, 16 Market Street, Leicester, LE1 6DP until the 27th of November. (Tues- Sat, 11am – 6pm). We will be in Leicester again from the…

Receptacles

One of the interesting things about using foliage and vegetable material is one never know how long something is going to last. We have been amazed at the longevity of the Artefact series, with the oldest pieces dating to 2015. Ross uses no preservatives in creating these pieces, which makes their survival all the more…

Still Life

‘Still Life’ is a new work by Ross created for this exhibition to which it gives its name. It is hard to see how any person could ever have “reasonable grounds” for not rescuing a person in distress at sea… Schedule 4A, part A1, paragraph J1 The piece is made from recycled antique christening gowns…

Talking Circles

‘Talking Circles’ are a body of work originally started after coming across the heads of two cordyline plants that were being uprooted for a back garden redesign. the works developed and were selected for PRISM 2020 but eventually shown for real in 2021 at Roots at Crafts Central and subsequently PRISM’s In Search of Possibilities….