Natural Wonder (funded by Arts Council England), by Ruthie Collins. Image: Brittany Woodman
2003 True Lies, short text, Commercial Road, Shoreditch, London (Axis of Weevil).
2004 Pop Hearts, live art installation/interactive writing at Sheffield Peace Gardens – filmed by BBC Look North
2007 Class Shit Causes Art Disease, mixed media text – Mill Road Social Centre, Mill Road Cambridge
2007 Jokes, text/short story exhibited at Secret Garden Party Exhibition (as part of Cambridge Fringe Open Studios)
(2008) NYC Refound, text and installation made from found objects in New York + ‘Inclusion In the Art World’ critical writing – Cambridge Unbound’ The Shop Gallery, Cambridge (Cambridge Unbound, 2008),
2009 Rody’s Friends are For Sale text and installation made from yellow plastic ducks with accompanying art writing, Clare Hall college, University of Cambridge (Cambridge Open Art Space, 2009).
2010 ‘Words/Art/Peace – Interview with Yoko Ono’, interview with Yoko Ono, in collaboration with designer Rachel Hernandez Pumarejo – exhibited as posters / visual writing, at Cambridge Social Enterprise Centre (Transforming Space, 2010)
2011 Inspirational Woman Magazine Unity Photoshoots – worldwide media intervention, in partnership with groups including Women for Women International (commissioned by Inspirational Woman Magazine launch campaign – Lisa Chuma).
2011 ‘Music Is My Soul’, text/mixed media portrait of Amy Winehouse, Cambridge Art Salon (curated by Mark Woods Nunn, 2011).
2013 ‘Advice to My Teenage Self’, text and exhibition of selected quotes produced with young women supported by Romsey Mill (as part of Women of Influence, funded by Young Lives / Santander).
2014 Female Voices posters and published text displayed across Cambridge city, including Cambridge Junction, Cambridge Guildhall, Kings Hedges Sixth Form and many more shops and spaces, as part of Cambridge WOW, featuring quotes from inspirational women selected by young women supported by Romsey Mill – typography designed by Katy Figg and Rebecca Scambler (funded by Arts Council England).
2016 The Industry Needs to Support These Workers, poster-style short text produced sharing strategies to sustain a creative practice, by creative parents, in partnership with Cambridge WOW and the Family Arts Campaign (as part of BBC Get Creative Family Arts Festival and Gudrun Filipski’s solo exhibition at Thrifts Walk Studios).
2017/18 Pearls of Wisdom Interactive Art Pearl, with The Grove Primary School. Large pearl, decorated with text and written wisdom passed on by older generations, plus painted by families – funded by High Sheriff Award.
2018 ‘Writing As Art’, talk and poetry workshop on exploring writing as art, at Kettle’s Yard, with Manor Care Home, in response to ‘Actions. the image of the world can be different’ (as part of Pearls of Wisdom Social Club, with Cambridge Art Salon and Kettle’s Yard).
2018 Eco Glitter Bath, installation made from paddling pool and eco friendly glitter raising awareness of alternatives to plastic at Strawberry Fair Arts Area – Eastern Bloco.
2018 The Enchanted Mirror, text art poem installation at Gallery 9, Cambridge (Gazing Back).
2019 Extract of novel exhibited along with micro mysteries by Women of Great Yarmouth, funded by Arts Council England – showcased at Great Yarmouth Library, November 2019 as part of Mystery Lunch. Yarmouth Mysteries, published book of children’s mysteries available in Great Yarmouth Library. Thanks to Norfolk Museums for loan of their ‘Listening Chair’.
2020 The Cambridge ABC to Inequality, published text exploring the housing crisis in Cambridge, shared at exhibition led by Cambridge Commons on inequality in Cambridge.
2020/21 Dark Horses, printed by Norwich Print Museum, poem in honour of Anna Sewell, broadcast on her birthday March 30th and later performed at Venetian Waterways. Collection of women’s stories supported by Feathers Futures, broadcast as audio as BBC Voices, BBC Radio Norfolk, Spring 2021.
2021/21 Rainbow Art Making Club, a wellbeing and arts club for children and families inspiring intergenerational connection in the community – funded by Norfolk Community Foundation.
March 2021 Market Memories, ‘found poem’ commissioned by Freshly Greated, celebrating Great Yarmouth’s Market Place, turned into a short video; poem named and narrated by Yarmouth residents.
September 2021 Sound art by Taz Stevenson, archived on the Yarmonics Sound Map. Created in response to conversation at Burgh Castle overlooking Breydon Water and commissioned poem Dreaming of Albion, Sailing With Maud – shared with podcast produced by Eastern Ear, as part of Yarmonics festival September 2021, plus Norfolk and Norwich festival programme May 2022.
November 21 Illuminate Festival, Plymouth. Creating new, fully immersive text inspired work featuring interviews with residents in South West England exploring hope in the face of climate emergency. An extract from my poem, Persephone Wakes shared as light projection, together with participatory pledges to take action to protect the Earth, at Illuminate Festival, Plymouth – ‘We Have a Choice’ (2021). Commissioned by Real Ideas.
2021/22 ‘Art Is The Fire Warming Our Hands’ celebrating art on the frontline of communities, commissioned by National Centre for Writing, shared in January 2023.
Dec 2021/Spring+ Summer 2022 Natural Wonder Fairy Door Trails across the Broads National Park and Holt as part of Natural Wonder. Poems written by children on creative writing workshops, plus two of my own poems shared on the trails to support biodiversity learning – Bats about Bats (Cary’s Meadow Fairy Door Trail and also The Owl Fairies of Holt (Holt Fairy Door Trail – both written with support from Arts Council England). Check www.wondernatural.co.uk for details).
Spring/Summer 2022 Wonder Rocks – Challenges for grown ups and all to connect to nature, created by children on pebbles as text art – appearing across North Norfolk as part of Natural Wonder. Funded by Arts Council England and North Norfolk District Council.
August 2022 – Open Your Eyes to Nature – mixed media piece made from plastic found by Norfolk Beach Cleaners Collective and recycled magazines at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Cley Marshes Visitor Centre, August 2022
Sept-Dec 2022 ‘The Spirit of Strumpshaw’ collaborative poem commissioned by the RSPB written with children at Brundall Primary School, installed as part of two public art pieces at RSPB site Strumpshaw Fen – metalwork by Kate Munro (metal sculpture).
May 2023/24 The Last Eel on Earth poem is published as a mini children’s book illustrated by Bronwen Vaughan and distributed in educational packs with support from Love The Broads, Broads Trust and Broads Authority. It also helps to kickstart World Eel Day partnered with Broads Authority and University of Plymouth.
April 2024 You Don’t Need A Manifesto To Begin, poster poem exhibited at Fairway Gallery, Oxford University Press, Oxford; as part of We Also Fight Windmills exhibition in response to Sophie Brzeska curated by Ania Ready
(January 2025) Natural Wonder’s winter programme on front cover of Just Thorpe and in article featuring photo of performer from Foolhardy Circus.
(Summer 2025) Natural Wonder poetry collection and participatory arts programmes in article published in English 4-11 magazine outlining benefits, resources and ideas including Happiness Is Growing as resource for restorative ecology, wellbeing and literacy.
(Summer 2025) Natural Wonder poetry collection and participatory arts programmes are featured in Green Parent magazine’s Joy Issue.
(August 2025) Natural Wonder poetry collection and participatory arts and conservation team hosts arts activities in Woodland Play area of Harlequin Fayre festival for families and children – with Happiness Is Growing, fairy art and ecology planting for butterflies.
(2025) The Rainbow Chrysalis – participatory art piece and poem commissioned by Counterpoints Arts as part of Platforma Festival exploring movement in nature and migration; continues to support groups as part of Happiness Is Growing, restoring butterflies.
January 2025 – Jan 2026 writing The Culture Lover’s Guide to Cambridge, a non fiction book on Cambridge’s arts and cultural scene to be published by Pen and Sword (White Owl).
April 2023 – January 2026 Natural Wonder conservation and participatory arts experiences and trails for children commissioned by Norfolk County Council as part of Natural Wonder participatory poetry trail.
I’ve also produced and curated programmes of interdisciplinary arts activity, from festivals to arts projects, funded by Santander, Arts Council England, Young Lives, and a variety of grants and funders