Ruth Ropper

Textile and Mixed Media Artist
Who am I and what do I do?

I am a Textile Artist based in Scotland who creates textile art inspired by nature that people want to touch and interact with. Using my imagination, I transform and give life to natural, reclaimed, and new materials to create this amazing wall art.

 

I believe we are all born creative, but we all express it in different ways. I have more than 50 years’ experience working with textiles which started at my mother’s side and was also inspired by my grandmothers on both sides of the family. It developed into a love of all things created by hand and over the years I have tried many different crafts and creative endeavours, but my first love has always been textiles. Over the years this has included hand and machine sewing and embroidery, macrame, weaving, patchwork, knitting, crochet, and a range of other textile crafts!

 

I also believe that you should be able to touch textiles to really understand how they all work together to create a tactile piece of art. This combination of a love of creating with my hands, using bold colours and tactile materials has led me to develop my skills in creating textile art.

Heritage

 

My love of bold colours and silk materials comes from my father and our Indian heritage. He came over to the UK in the 1950s to train as a mechanical engineer and has always had a love of colour. He would wear bright coloured shirts when everyone else was in white or pin-stripes! I have grown up with a love of bright colours and I have the colouring to wear them as well.

 

I discovered this photo recenlty when going through my Dad's old slides. It was when my Indian grandparents paid for the whole family to visit them in India, in 1971, when I was 6 and a half. We visited family around the country as well as some famous landmarks. 

 

Here we were visiting relatives in Naini Tal, in the foothills of the Himalayas, near where my Dad went to school. I had not realised that I had learned to knit so young but I was obviously concentrating hard when my Dad took the picture. 

 

I do remember hand and machine sewing, knitting and crocheting from a young age as I made items for my dolls before I made clothes for me and sarted dabbling in lots of different types of creative textiles.

Inspiration

 

I love being out in nature and am a keen gardener who enjoys growing and photographing my own plants and trees for inspiration.

 

I also enjoy walks by rivers and through the woods where I photograph trees, lichen, bark, and moss.

 

My other favourite place for inspiration is when we are on holiday up the West Coast of Scotland with amazing beaches where we go beachcombing, finding shells, sea glass, pebbles, and if we are lucky, driftwood.

 

Natural Materials

 

Being conscious of our impact on God’s amazing creation in the world around us, I am passionate about using natural materials wherever possible and often include cotton, linen, bamboo, silk, and wool. I also have an insatiable urge to keep anything that could possibly be reused in some way in the future! This includes recycled or reclaimed items to transform and prolong them for many years to come.

 

This photo is a colour wheel created on my workbench with recycled sari silk. I use this material in some of my creations as I love the colours, textures, heritage and the fact it is giving use to old fabrics which would usually be discarded.

What is my Creative Process?

'Imagination, Transformation, Life'

When I am creating, I use a process I call 'Imagination, transformation, Life'. It is an evolving process where first I imagine what the finished piece might look like, then choose materials and colours that would best represent that image.

 

Next, I work in an organic process where the piece can change as I adapt, add, or remove materials before they are transformed into the final piece. Using my imagination, I transform and give life to natural, reclaimed, and new materials to create this amazing one of a kind textile art.

 

I use a range of techniques which can include macrame knotting, weaving, hand dyeing, felting, and stitching. Believing that my creative DNA comes from The Creator, I am inspired by nature to design unique textile art which will transform our environments and inspire others.

The process starts with drawing inspiration from the variety of sources as mentioned previously. I then choose a colour palette to work with and link this to my inspiration. Using my imagination, I decide which materials and techniques to use and then physically gather all of them together and lay them out on the workbench so I can see how the different items and colours work together.

 

Using one or more of the techniques mentioned, I transform the materials using an evolving, organic style to produce a piece of textile art which is full of life, completely unique and one that you will want to show off to all your friends!

My Studio

 

Since our children have left home I have been able to take over the other double bedroom in the house and use it for my Creative Studio. 

 

I am incredibly blessed to have a husband who can make most things with his hands, so I have an amazing fold down workbench in my studio. Recently, at my request he created a set-up so that I could work on macrame at my workbench which includes a device to stop my reels rolling away when I am measuring cords out.

 

The workbench is a place to hand paint fabric, use my sewing machine, felt and lay out new pieces of textile art. I use a floor stand for holding hand embroidery in frames and a full height clothes rail to work on longer pieces of macramé art.

How Do I Source Materials?

I am passionate about minimising the impact we have on God’s amazing creation, so choose to use recycled, reclaimed, and natural materials such as cotton, linen, bamboo, silk, and wool wherever possible.


Knowing the provenance of new materials is important so I try to ensure they are from reliable or fair-traded sources.

 

I am also passionate about supporting other UK based small businesses wherever possible for my creative supplies.