Oxford artist inspired by the sea
22 February 2011
Britain’s coastline is to be showcased in an exhibition of drawings by an Oxford University administrator whose day job involves helping run the University’s History of Art Department.
Rachel Woodruff’s first exhibition, opening at the Jam Factory in Park End Street next month, will include around 20 coastal scenes drawn from hundreds of photos taken while walking along Britain’s shores.
The artist is currently walking sections of the 630-mile South West Coast Path which extends from Poole in Dorset around the cliffs of Devon and Cornwall to Minehead in Somerset and is calling her exhibition 100 Miles from the Sea.
‘Walking is very head-clearing,’ Rachel said. ‘You get lost in your thoughts and take in the scenery a lot more than you would from seeing it pass you by from the seat of your car.
I started walking the coast path by chance after noticing the distance signposts on a trip to the sea a few years ago. I’ve completed about a third of it so far and am logging my route through photographs, a large map on my wall and a spreadsheet of the locations and distances I’ve covered. It will feel like a real achievement when I complete it.
I’ve walked inland areas but there’s something both comforting and exhilarating about having the sea to one side of you. I never tire of it - no two walks have ever been the same, even in the same county.
Rachel decided to work on a body of drawings from her walks last year, fitting it around her travels and her full-time job. Despite having an art and psychology degree and an MA in gallery studies, she only revealed her artistic talents to colleagues when one of her sculptures was installed in the foyer of Littlegate House on St Ebbes in 2009.
Oxford is the perfect location for Rachel’s exhibition. ‘I’m sure Oxford isn’t officially England’s most central place but I’ve always thought of it as being as far as you can get from the sea, and it takes about the same time to get to all three coasts,’ she said.
The drawings featuring architecture take longer than the sea studies. Maybe that’s because I’ve spent so much time observing the sea. It just seems to flow out of me!’
The exhibition runs from 8 March to 3 April in the restaurant and bar area of the Jam Factory, which is open daily from 10am to 11pm. Entry is free.
For more information contact Rachel at rachel.woodruff@hoa.ox.ac.uk or on 01865 286830.