<![CDATA[chris ruston

<![CDATA[chris ruston - Musings]]>Fri, 01 May 2026 07:11:39 +0000Weebly<![CDATA[John Keats Returns to The Old Operating Theatre]]>Thu, 02 Oct 2025 19:56:24 GMThttps://www.chrisruston.com/musings/john-keats-returns-to-the-old-operating-theatreA 'conversation' with John Keats

My 'conversation' with Keats began in 2019 when a friend gave me a time worn edition of Palgraves Treasury. The poetry book was in poor condition with a loose binding and having lost its cover. I started a series of drawings across the pages and in doing so found myself returning to the poems of John Keats. The following year in early 2020, while visiting The Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret with fellow Bookscapes artists, I was surprised to find myself once more in the company of Keats.

A display informed me Keats had studied as an apothecary surgeon and completed some of his training at St Thomas Hospital. The Herb Garret had once been a part of the original hospital. Having provisionally agreed with the museum to create a group exhibition, everything was postponed as the UK went into lockdown.

Throughout that summer, I continued to read about Keats. His life and words resonated with my own circumstances. We were dealing with an extended lockdown, while also adjusting to a series of significant losses. I found solace in Keats words and experiences - in particular his use of poetry to navigate the hardships of life.

His medical training under the famous surgeon Astley Cooper, had emphasised the importance of observation and experience. This approach greatly influenced his outlook and thoughts on the nature of suffering - of which he had witnessed much as a doctor and also experienced at a personal level.

Keats expressed the idea that physical and mental pain could sharpen the senses, and that this could also allow you to appreciate beauty and that in turn, beauty could evoke a strong emotional response in the beholder. As one of the Romantic poets, he accentuated extreme emotion through descriptions of natural imagery.

In Keats Medical Notebooks, Hrileena Ghosh describes this beautifully;

"Keats had a tendency to concentrate and contrast uncertain, in between regions that straddle past and present, humanity and divinity, life and death, health and sickness, dreaming and waking.
Thresholds are liminal spaces characterised by mutability and transience. Keats poetry is especially alive to this vitality of the threatened. Anything subject to change is also subject to time. Keats frequently employs compassion to manipulate the effects of temporality. Compassion allowed Keats to highlight such contrasts and focus attention on the life and beauty that exists in the shadow of death."

This work began as 'a conversation' using Keats words alongside found text through a process of redaction. The voice of Keats emerges and dissolves through these two volumes. Observations of his surroundings and the natural world become clear alongside an acknowledgement of the of presence of death while also holding on to hope. It is an ongoing project.

Above image shows the work on display at The Old Operating Theatre.

]]><![CDATA[Bookscapes Collective at The Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garrett.]]>Thu, 02 Oct 2025 10:41:08 GMThttps://www.chrisruston.com/musings/bookscapes-collective-at-the-old-operating-theatre-and-herb-garrett'After Dark Vapours Have Oppressed Our Plains'
John Keats

Bookscapes Collective Exhibition at The Old Operating Theatre, 2025.

"After dark vapours have oppress'd our plains,
For a long dreary season, comes a day
Born of the gentle south, and clears away
From the sick heavens all unseemly stains"

These words by John Keats were the starting point for our collaborative work for the Medicine and Superstition Exhibition. Given its beginnings started in January 2020, our plans were abruptly placed on hold by the Covid 19 pandemic. we felt Keats words resonated perfectly with that unprecedented year - they speak of hope and healing.

Gathering our research and thoughts together, we proceeded to explore the historic use of knots. Knots have been part of our everyday life for millennia. Alongside their practical uses they have attracted many superstitious and magical properties. Evidence suggests that knots were among the earliest and most important prehistoric amulets. The relationship between knots and amulets is an intimate one. Their power is ambiguous - they bind or release, create or destroy and have the capacity for both good and evil. We settled on exploring this fascinating subject with an emphasis on healing and protective properties.

Knots are essential for suturing the body after surgery, the practice forming a fundamental part of contemporary surgical training. Charging a ward' is the process of using an object as an anchor point for energy for the purpose of protection and spiritual defence, rendering an everyday object or material into an enchanted or empowering object. Energy is gathered and focussed onto the object for holding and releasing slowly over time. When we cross our fingers, tie a knot to remind us of something, or talk of how we are tied or bound to people or places, we are evoking this long history of knot work and superstition.

This collaborative installation of knot work was made with positive intention and focus by the group : Jules Allen, Heather Hunter, Jo Howe, Jen Fox Karen Apps & Chris Ruston.

Letterpress Print by Jules Allen. Printed at the Norwich Print Museum

]]><![CDATA[Medicine & Superstition, The Old Operating Theatre & Herb Garrett.]]>Wed, 01 Oct 2025 20:32:50 GMThttps://www.chrisruston.com/musings/medicine-superstition-the-old-operating-theatre-herb-garrett4681735Written Amulets

Ista Scribataur Medicina (Let This Medicine Be Written) This work explores the utility of textual amulets and the healing power of the written word. Charms and enchantment formed a significant part of healing practice in the medieval period. Written texts were carried on the body, folded into clothes as a means of healing and protection. Written words made the power of transitory chants and prayers more enduring, offering safe passage through a turbulent world.
This work comprises 365 drawings, one for each day of the year. In acknowledgement of the medieval ideas of textual amulets, letterforms have been used to create drawings on transparent pages which echo fine parchment, creating a palimpsest of words and symbols of protection.

The Museums edition of the Medical Journal, The Lancet - Experiments with New Remedies.

]]><![CDATA[Medicine & Superstition The Old Operating Theatre & Herb Garrett]]>Wed, 01 Oct 2025 19:29:17 GMThttps://www.chrisruston.com/musings/medicine-superstition-the-old-operating-theatre-herb-garrettThe Senile Heart

'A lifetime burning in every moment'
TS Eliot

Heart symbolism and myths have a long history. Heart shaped amulets have been found in burial sites across the world, suggesting their use as symbols of life and protection. During the Middle Ages, the heart was not just a symbol of love but was also believed to be the container of emotions, thoughts and even one's soul. People believed the heart held a person's life story and that good deeds and bad deeds were recorded within it. It is where the expression to 'learn by heart' comes from. the belief led to various superstitions and practices surrounding the heart, including heart burial, using hearts in folk magic, and even consuming them in sacred rituals.
while modern medicine has demystified much of the function, its symbolism remains deeply ingrained in human culture. while our understanding of the function of the heart has advanced, it is interesting to note that today's heart surgeons can insert what id referred to as 'an Amulet Occluder' into the area of the heart where 90% of stroke producing clots form.

The Book Of Life
The Hand We Are Dealt

Blood is often referred to as a life force due to its crucial role in sustaining life. It transports oxygen and nutrients to organs and tissues, enabling them to function properly. This is essential for everything from muscle movement and digestion, to thinking and fighting infection. Blood also carries away waste products, maintaining the body's internal balance. Essentially blood id the conduit for life, delivering what's needed and removing what isn't.

it also carries hidden messages- 'wild cards', that can be unpredictable passing on inherited diseases, like heart disease, and creating unexpected events. We therefore all live with 'the hand we are dealt'. this work considers our internal world that shapes our health.

Pack of 52 + 2 'wild cards', individually printed, arranged in a clock patience format.

]]><![CDATA[Medicine & Superstition at The Old Operating Theatre & Herb Garrett.]]>Tue, 30 Sep 2025 20:19:56 GMThttps://www.chrisruston.com/musings/medicine-superstition-at-the-old-operating-theatre-herb-garrett

My first visit to The Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garrett was with fellow artists from Bookscapes Collective in January 2020. We began discussions with the Museum regarding the possibilities of exhibiting work. Plans were put on hold due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Each year the Museum have a specific theme in which various aspects of Medicine and Health are explored. We agreed to wait until 2025 when the Museums topic would be Medicine and Superstition.

Superstition in therapeutic intervention and maintaining health is as relevant today as it was when the Herb Garrett was built in 1703. Belief in magic, divine intervention and fate inform our understanding of both the causes of illness and the efficacy of treatments. The artistic interventions in this exhibition ask questions of how superstition and magic are woven through medical practice both today and in the past. Medical practitioners, who often pride themselves on evidence-based foundations incorporate a wide range of superstition into clinical work, continuing traditions found in this part of London since the twelfth century.

Additionally, how a patient seeks treatment is determined by the belief they place in the various systems of healing available to them. This faith is inspired by a complex interplay of lived experiences, religion and superstition. Superstitious rituals are part of everyday life, performed at an almost unconscious level, but are particularly prevalent in all aspects of medical practice and culture, as we search to find causality in randomness, express fear of the unknown and faith in higher powers.

This exhibition is a significant conversation around the ideas of superstition in both historic and current medical practice. themes such as protection from malevolent spirits, tempting fate, amulets, knot work and the written word are explored in the context of sickness, health and well being.

The resulting exhibition comprises individual pieces by six artists as well as a collaborative installation titled 'After Dark Vapours Have Oppressed Our Plains..." - the opening line from a John Keats poem. It features artist books, sculptures, textile work, photography, and prints.

Above a selection of images by Bookscapes Collective. Images Left to Right - Heather Hunter, Karen Apps, Jo Howe, Jules Allen, Chris Ruston & Jen Fox.

Amulets & Contemporary Pilgrim Badges

Amulets & Pilgrim Badges made from medication boxes, and found objects from the shoreline of the Thames Estuary.

Above work by Chris Ruston
Et Custodieros (and you will be protected),
'Free Me From These Fears" (Petarach),
Medicus Curat, Natura Sanat ( The Physician heals, Nature Cures)

Pilgrim Badges are decorations worn by those who have undertaken a Christian pilgrimage to a holy site. Popular among Catholics in the later medieval period, these souvenirs often bear imagery related to venerated saints.
Using card from modern medication boxes, this work consists of contemporary amulets inspired by pilgrim badges in the Museums collection.With symbols and images exploring my relationship with regular walking along the shore of the River Thames, a contemporary form of pilgrimage. Selected and kept objects are often imbued with meaning, whether worn, carried, or displayed, channeling, strength and comfort. The power of an amulet and the movement of walking can both be considered forms of healing.

Traditional Pilgrim Badges on display at the Museum.

A selection of Contemporary Pilgrim Badges printed on card from Medication Boxes, inspired by my daily walks along the Thames Estuary.

]]><![CDATA['Miscellanea' Exhibition at Strangers Hall, Norwich]]>Wed, 19 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.chrisruston.com/musings/miscellanea-exhibition-at-strangers-hall-norwich

Strangers Hall is a beautiful medieval merchants house in the centre of Norwich. The house has a long and colourful history, and was left to the city of Norwich by its last owner solicitor Leonard Bolingbroke (1859- 1927). His wish was to preserve the house which for centuries had been occupied by various city merchants. It derived its name from the Dutch merchants that were referred to as 'strangers'. They played a significant role in contributing to the wealth and prosperity of the Norwich.

Following discussion with the team at Strangers Hall, our group, Bookscapes Collective, were asked if we would consider making artworks for the Victorian rooms. The resulting exhibition Miscellanea, consists of a variety of individual pieces, and one largec colourful Kaleidoscopic group installation.

When wondering through the various rooms, my attention was first drawn to a colourful bell jar containing exotic and colourful birds. The wonder and fascination of being up close to these beautiful birds never subsides, even though in the 21st century the politics surrounding taxidermy collections is often fraught with controversy.

But if we step back for a moment into the Victorian age: a different time, different context perhaps it allows us to consider the collections from a different perspective. It was a period when the mysteries of the natural world were unfolding like never before. An age of exploration and discovery. I decided to take this as my starting point.

"When They Heard The Bell Toll.."
from the nursery rhyme 'Who Killed Cock Robin'.

Prompted by the bright red of the birds in this display, and being very aware of the decline in general bird populations, I was reminded of the nursery rhyme "Who Killed Cock Robin". I settled on making a number of shadow boxes which would bring these two thoughts together.

The origin of the well known nursery rhyme Cock Robin is thought to date back to 1508 when it was called 'Phyllp Spaowe'. It is believed to have been written at Carrow just outside Norwich , by John Skelton (c1463- 1529). The original poem was about the death of a pet bird.

The title for the work is taken from a line in the verse 'When They Heard The Bell Toll" and
is a series of shadow boxes consisting of found objects, drawings and an altered book. The restricted colour palette in this piece acknowledges the Victorian era but also represents a sense of loss.
Lists and names of birds are incorporated in the work, while the use of red - a traditional colour of warning, references the Red List of Threatened Species. The two birds holding a bell jar and a timer remind us that time is critical if we are to prevent further decline in our bird populations. The piece brings together the Victorian obsession with collecting while also connecting to our modern day concerns.

"Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark"
Rabinthdranth Tagore

On the large bookcase in the dinning room rests another bell jar containing a dead dove carved by local sculptor James Minns.
Continuing with the bird theme, I made a series of four doves, which are suspended above on either side of the sculpture.

Nest

My third work sits below the original bell jar on a beautifully painted table. Typically Victorian with its rich dark lacquered surface, the centre is decorated with a ring of flowers. I placed a small bell jar contains a very small nest woven form hair, and dried grasses.

'When they Heard The Bell Toll"
A Concertina Book of Text and Drawings

Kaleidoscope
An installation by Bookscapes Collective

As visitors move through the dark Victorian interiors, they finally arrive at the Parlour where we have installed a group installation based on a Kaleidoscope. We have recreated the idea of this wonderful optic device on a giant scale, using over 300 hexagon books. The Victorian Parlor was traditionally used for recreation and entertainment. Hexagons may stand alone but are stronger when they come together which reflects the ethos of the group in our collaborative works.

]]><![CDATA[June 19th, 2024]]>Wed, 19 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.chrisruston.com/musings/june-19th-2024

]]><![CDATA[Generative Spaces ARLIS Conference 2023.]]>Sat, 15 Jul 2023 20:05:24 GMThttps://www.chrisruston.com/musings/generative-spaces-arlis-conference-2023Repair and Repetition

An Exhibition of Artist Books
Bookscapes Collective, and the BooksOnBooks Collection.
ARLIS Conference 2023
The Forum, Norwich

Following Turn the Page Artist Book Fair in 2022, Jerry Jenkins, Curator, Emerging Media, Contemporary British Publications at the British Library, approached Jules Allen to inquire about the possibility of an Artist Book Fair being held alongside their annual Arts Libraries Conference. However the timing of this request was one year too late. Although Turn the Page proved to be a huge success, after two years of COVID restrictions and ten years of organising the event, the committee felt it was time to move on to new ventures. That new venture is Bookscapes Collective.

The six of us have exhibited alongside each other during those ten years, and came together through our joint interest in working with Museum Collections and Historic places. We enjoy researching and making site specific work which open conversations between the past and present.

However following the discussion it was agreed we would bring together an exhibition comprising pieces of our own work, alongside a selection from the BooksOnBooks collection. This is a private collection which has been catalogued and documented on line and offers posts and reviews about book arts, the history and future of the book, acts of reading, looking and their relationship. (more here).

The pieces displayed were selected for their connection to the theme of ‘Repair and Repetition’. This title refers not just to the physical act of making, restoring and conserving books but also to the process of making art as an act of healing, recovery and meditation. The books demonstrate how art can be mindful and provide a way to process and cope with traumatic events, such as the recent COVID Pandemic.

Artist books featured from the Books On Books Collection included
Anouk Kruithof Universal Tongue
Anouk Kruithof Pixel stress
J. Meejin Yoon - Absence (2004)
Pien Rotterdam - Absences (2015)
Salt & Shaw - ‘Look’ (2021)
Salt + Shaw ITHACA (2015)
Salt + Shaw WHORL
Nif Hodgson Fluid Horizons (2021)
Ken Botnick, Table of Contents (2020)
Simon Morris, Royal Road to the Unconscious (2004)
Maria Welch - ‘Erratic Obsession’ (2019)
Caroline Penn’s Standen (2014)
Helen Malone & Jack Oudyn, The Future of an Illusion (2017)
Marian Macken - Ise Jingū: Beginning Repeated
Xiao Long Hua’s The Blind Men and the Elephant (2019)
Guy Laramée, A Caverna (2012)
Joyce Cutler-Shaw, The Anatomy Lesson: Unveiling the Fasciculus Medicinae (2004)
Lucia Mindlin Loeb, Abismo (2012)
Francesca Capone “Weaving Language: Language is Image, Paper, Code & Cloth’ (2018)
Masoumeh Mohtadi’s Blindness (2020).
Phil Zimmerman, High Tension (1993)

Helen Malone & Jack Oudyn, The Future of an Illusion (2017)

Jaqueline Rush Lee, The First Cut (2015),Lucia Mindlin Loeb, Abismo (2012)

Salt & Shaw, Look (2021)

Joyce Cutler Shaw, The Anatomy Lesson: Unveiling the Fasciculus Medicine (2004)

Guy Laramee A Caverna (2012) Pien Rotterdam, Absences (2015), Masoumeh Mohtadis Blindness (2020)

We are extremely grateful to the curator of the collection Robert Bolick who has always been hugely supportive of both Turn the Page and has promoted and brought exposure to many other artists, craftspeople, and institutions.

Works on show by Bookscapes Artists included

Jules Allen, Glasswing (2020)

Heather Hunter, Out of My Hands.

Jules Allen, Sorrow

Jo Howe, A Spoonful Of Sugar.

Jo Howe, Shall We Know Another

Jen Fox Sentience I

Jen Fox Landlines

Karen Apps An Object of My Own Making

Karen Apps Losing Touch

Karen Apps Wine Cordial and Cambric Handkerchief

Chris Ruston Field Notes: The Seashore I Know

Chris Ruston My Mothers Purse

Chris Ruston Hortus Domesticus, Natural Specimens and Observations of the Commonplace.

Karen Apps That Was Then & This Is Now

Karen Apps We Begin Again

These Artist Books demonstrate the variety of ways emotions can be expressed through art and the medium of book in its widest sense. The exhibition was received well and generated interesting conversations about the importance of art, education and expression for well being.

These pieces not only provide a place for the individual artists to express themselves and process emotional content, but facilitated an openness and sharing of experience from the people who viewed them. Art is a communication, an invitation to share experience and to connect with others who may either been through a similar situation or offer a new perspectives and understanding.

A Book Art Performance
We Begin Again

Following an afternoon of presentations, delegates at the 2023 ARLIS Conference were treated to a special performance of one of the works on display. This special artist book was made during an immensely testing time for the artist Karen Apps.

Karen explains
“It all began in 2017, when a friend’s farewell embrace revealed something was amiss. Despite previous regular checks and screening, the ‘Grey Dot’ (as I came to call her) had slipped under the radar. The diagnosis of cancer was devastating. My response to this news was to turn to creativity, in particular stitching and to trust that the creative process would provide a calm place in which to retreat.

Cancer diagnosis disrupts our perceived certainties. Stitching became an important place to contain the many fears and emotions that enveloped me. A place of refuge, a container of uncertainties and emotions. This work was slowly stitched and woven together.”

The pieces Karen refers to were created during a two year period of intense and invasive treatments. Art and creativity became a place to ground these powerful anxieties. It provided an connection to the familiar in a world that was being turned up side down.

Karen continues
“The physical act of ‘making’ became an important part of this healing process.
When so much felt out of control, the simple act of picking up a needle and thread became an anchor, my safe private space. Embedding images of rogue cells that were being contained and the demise of the ‘Grey Dot’, became an act of superstition, like touching wood. Slow meditative stitching allowed a focus on the moment at hand. Each stitch guiding the direction - navigating the unknown”.

The various stitched works have been collated and bound into an oversize book. The pages are formed from extra large pillow case covers - perhaps a symbolic reference to the gesture of moments of laying down to rest.

The performance was performed by two women - Ruth Lin and Audrey Vick, from the Whitwell Station Players, who brought their own silent yet dramatic interpretation to the moment. Slowly each page turned - a gentle unfolding, revealing a remarkable book of embodied emotions. The performance was enhanced as the haunting music of Bach and Mozart filled the room. In conclusion Karen stated

“These embroideries were never intended for exhibition but binding them together and being able to close the book, seemed a fitting conclusion to this period of my life”.

]]><![CDATA[Bookscapes Collective, Light from the Dark.]]>Wed, 12 Jul 2023 14:03:35 GMThttps://www.chrisruston.com/musings/bookscapes-collective-light-from-the-darkWhat an amazing opportunity to exhibit work in such a historic space. We are extremely grateful to Hannah Henderson, curator at the Museum of Norwich, for her support and enthusiasm, in allowing Bookscapes Collective to exhibit work in this unique space. Responding to various objects from the museum"s collection, and with this site in mind, we have all enjoyed producing work to install in the wonderfully atmospheric undercroft.
'Light form the Dark' brings together the varied histories of Norwich : stories that merge and echo through each others artworks.

As you step through the door and descend the steps, you can't help notice the history which has been etched across the surface of these delicate crumbling walls for the past 700 years. This first room is flooded with light. Progressing into the building the light grows dimmer, and the atmosphere becomes palpable. Light seeps through small grills high in the walls. While the modern age has seen the introduction of electric lighting, we wanted to keep this atmosphere and opted to work with the limited natural light. Work was presented in subdued light, individually lit to enhance the mood of the place. Visitors were given the option of having a torch as they move through the rooms.

While soft light filters through these atmospheric rooms, we were aware this space has a dark history. Initially built as a wealthy merchants house, the building then became a prison or 'house of correction' from the 17th century. These rooms would once have been used as a place of punishment.

Four pieces of work by myself were displayed in this first room:
Title; The Poems of Mrs Opie: A Return to Possibilities,
Title: Reverberations,
Title: Out of the Ashes: The Observer Books, I & II,

Moving through to the second room, visitors were presented with work by Karen Apps and Heather Hunter.

Karen Apps Title: The Confines,
Karen Apps Title: Slaves to the Needle
Heather Hunter Title: In the Tapestry of Life
Heather Hunter Title: Woven Stories

'The Confines' by Karen, juxtaposes two women living more than four centuries apart - Julien of Norwich and Lorina Bulwer. Both lived in seclusion - one by choice, the other detained against her will. Julien elected to be an anchoress, while Lorina was committed to the workhouse by her family.

Both Karen and Heather were drawn to the textile heritage of Norwich. The city once had a thriving industry. Karen's installation "Slave to the Needle" brings attention to the use of child labour which is often overlooked, but a played a part in the production of fine embroideries. Children as young as four were put to work.

Heather's attention was more specifically pulled toward the weaving heritage. She was intrigued by the arrival of The Strangers, who settled in Norwich during the 16th Century. Fleeing religious and political persecution, they brought weaving skills and tools which helped the cities textile trade to flourish. The Strangers also brought their small canaries which would sing as the weavers sat at their looms.

Continuing through the building the rooms become darker with less natural light. Jules Allen and Jo Howe's work explores differing aspects of the social history of Norwich, highlighting the toll poverty, and harsh working conditions had on peoples well being.

Jo Howe. Title: Embodied Emotions
Jo Howe Title: Baggage
Jules Allen Title: A False and Deceitful Colour
Jules Allen Title: Softening the Blow and A Dark Time.

Finally Jen Fox's installation references the industrial heritage of Norwich. Jen explores this connection to place through walking and documenting what she sees. Much of that history is still evident throughout the city. Her research revealed one hundred and fifty different crafts and trades were carried out during the medieval period.

Jen Fox Title: To Have Within: Hold: Contained: Share.

More detail about each artists work can be found on the Bookscapes Collective website.

]]><![CDATA[Bookscapes Collective]]>Wed, 21 Jun 2023 21:00:31 GMThttps://www.chrisruston.com/musings/bookscapes-collective

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​The Book Of LifeThe Hand We Are Dealt

​Amulets & Contemporary Pilgrim Badges​

A Book Art Performance​We Begin Again

The Book Of Life
The Hand We Are Dealt

Amulets & Contemporary Pilgrim Badges

A Book Art Performance
We Begin Again