Photo: Davy Denke
Ruth Gilmour (b. 1990, Scotland) is an artist and researcher based in Denmark and London. She graduated from The Glasgow School of Art (BFA First-Class Hons, 2017) and HDK-Valand, Sweden (MFA, 2020), and is currently undertaking a PhD in Artistic Research at the Royal College of Art, London. Working with silk, the body and herbal materials, her practice explores healing and dis-ease through unravelling, cocooning, and transformation. Through image-making, textiles and sculptural interventions, she investigates how embodied experiences can be absorbed, transformed, and secreted through material forms. Gilmour’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at Copenhagen Contemporary and Sølvberget Galleri, and supported by institutions such as Statens Kunstfond, Craft Research, and the European Prize for Applied Arts. Her work is held in public and private collections, including the Danish Arts Foundation.
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Born: 1990, Scotland
Working: UK and Denmark -
2024-2030: PhD candidate: School of Arts and Humanities, (Jonathan Boyd and Alice Butler) Royal College of Art, London
2020: MFA: Jewellery Art, (Yuka Oyama and Karin Johansson) HDK-Valand, Gothenburg, Sweden
2017: First class BA [Hons w/distinction]: Silversmithing and Jewellery, (Jonathan Boyd) Glasgow School of Art, Scotland
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2023: Manoeuvering Fibres, Bladr, Copenhagen
2020: Frayed Bodies, Bredegrund 1, Copenhagen
2018: Material Bodies, New Glasgow Society, Glasgow
2018: Material Bodies, DSKD, Denmark
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2026: Are We Really Here?, HBH Gallery, London
2026: Year of the Horse(s), Wild Horses Gallery, Copenhagen
2025-2026: Textile Art of Today, Triennial of Textile; Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava-Cunovo Slovak Republic; Hlohovec Castle, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
2025: Surfaced, Beaconsfield Gallery, London
2025: RCA Research Biennale 2025, Royal College of Art, London
2023: The Biennale for Craft and Design, Copenhagen Contemporary, Denmark
2023: AWN, Øens Have, Copenhagen, Denmark
2022: Caring Futures, Sølvberget Library and Cultural Centre, Norway
2022: Talente, Internationale Handwerkmesse, Munich, Germany
2021-2022: Textile Art of Today, Triennial of Textile; Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava-Cunovo Slovak Republic; Tatra Gallery, Poprad, Slovak Republic; The Museum of Moravian Slovakia, Uherske Hradiste, Czech Republic; Pesti Vigadó Gallery, Budapest, Hungary; Museum Historyczne, Bielsko-Biala, Poland
2021-2022: The Euopean Prize of Applied Arts, WCC-Europe, Belgium; CCAM, Barcelona
2021: The Art Prize, Ashurts HQ, London
2021: Spiritus, Michael Weihe Gallery, Copenhagen
2020, MFA degree show, Gothenburg (online)
2019: Bodies in Alliance/Bodies in Defiance, Rotor Gallery, Gothenburg, Sweden
2019, Myth, Misfortune, Horror and Luck, Glasshuset, Gothenburg
2019: Hemma Gone Wild, curated by Svensk Form and Joyn Studio for Milan Design Week, Brera Design District, Milan
2019: A Second Ago... Stockholmsmässan, Stockholm Furniture Fair, Stockholm
2017: Making It Now, curated by Gregory Parsons, Ruthin Craft Centre, The Centre for the Applied Arts, Wales
2017: Materialise, Fife Contemporary, Online
2017, Great Northern Graduates, Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Manchester, UK
2017: Introducing, North Land Creative, Caithness, Scotland
2017: New Designers, Business Design Centre Islington, London
2017: Degree show, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland
2016: Elements, Lyon and Turnbull, Edinburgh, Scotland
2016, Feminist Strategies, A-venue, Gothenburg
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2021: The Museum of Loss and Renewal, Taking Time Residency, Italy
2017-2018: Designskolen Kolding, Artist in Residence, Denmark
2016: HDK-Valand,Exchange Student, Gothenburg
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2024: Working Grant, Statens Kunstfond, Denmark
2023: Acquisition of Manoeuvering Fibres I, II, III & IIII, Statens Kunstfond, Denmark
2023: Project Grant (Visual Art/Craft & Design), Statens Kunstfond, Denmark
2022: Finalist for The European Prize for Applied Arts, WCC-Europe, Belgium
2022: Finalist for the Talente Prize, Internationale Handwerksmesse, Munich
2021: Working grant, Statens Kunstfond, Denmark
2021: The Visual Arts and Crafts Makers Award, Creative Scotland
2020: Project Grant, Theodor and Mannheimers Foundation, Sweden
2020: Travel Grant, Adlerbertska Foundation Grant, Sweden
2019: Travel Grant, Estrid Ericsons Stiftelse, Sweden
2018 & 2019: Dewar Arts Award, Scotland
2017: Distinction, Forum for Critical Enquiry, Glasgow School of Art, Scotland
2017: Exceptional craft graduate award,Fife Contemporary Art & Craft, Scotland
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Gilmour, R, Loose Gatherings, #11 . Care, Issue 30, pp.20-21: eSharp, Autumn 2022.
Olivia Spring, SICK magazine, volume 3, UK, 2021
Gilmour, R, ed Katherine Townsend. Mattering and making ethics: On craft, embodiment and vulnerable materialities. Craft Research, 11(1), pp.115-127: Intellect Books, 2020.
Gilmour, R. Material Bodies. Self published: Glasgow, Scotland 2018
A&E collective, But there is no land near the end, Glasgow, 2018
Gilmour, R. Nothing is Solid. Self published: Glasgow, 2017
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2021-2025: HDK-Valand, Sweden
2025: Schmuck PhD day, Germany
2023: Haxthaüser Hof Schmucksymposium, Germany
2023: Kunsthøjskolen i Holbæk, Denmark
2018: Designskolen Kolding, Denmark