Ruth Radburn

Artist residency  November 2025.

'For the poets regarded the edge of water as a usual place for the revelation of wisdom' (Noel Keaveney. Poet)
November - a month that calls us inward to meet old stories, both personal and collective, and even deeper holds an invitation to dream.

Arriving at Mud and Wool on the feast of Samhain I was welcomed to take a place by the fire. I immediately felt a sense of home in the warmth offered by Jo, Adam, their wider community and the deep timeless magic of the land they tend and nourish.

In the stillness and quiet of the extraordinary liminal beauty in the shifting skies and ancient bogs, the light and colour of West Wales I was able to explore my creativity and just see how that wanted to express. Lighty holding the myths of shape shifters and the histories of bog lands, I allowed myself this extraordinary gift of time and space.

Using layers of colour, leaves, paper and even ash my images turned out to be investigations of the play of elements, most notably the relationship of land and water, and the space between.

My thanks go to Jo and Adam and Mud and Wool for their ability to hold space with integrity, love and generosity. I feel sure I will return and hope this is the beginning of a creative friendship. A true Samhain gift.