Ruth McDermott

Artist in residence for the month of August 2025

Dr Ruth McDermott is an Australian visual artist working in the public realm driven by a
passion for expressing ideas and telling stories. The inspiration for the work comes from a
variety of areas but has a focus on the natural environment. Over the past 14 years, she has
collaborated with lighting designer Ben Baxter on a series of public artworks for festivals and
clients which can be seen at www.mcdermottbaxter.com .

Ruth McDermott has undertaken arts residencies in Iceland (Westfjords) and Finland
(Archipeligo). In 2024, she held a solo exhibition in Sydney titled ‘Lost Terrains’ where she
explored through textile and lighting the textures and forms of dramatic yet fragile
landscape of Iceland.
Ruth McDermott always wanted to visit the northern Iceland area and with this residency in
Akureyri she is exploring as much of the landscape as possible – developing watercolour
works in response.

For her presentation on August 22, Ruth McDermott will talk about how landscape and
environment have influenced both her collaborative and solo work. She will also present a
video of the ‘Lost Terrains’ exhibition. There will be a small exhibition of paintings created
while here in Akuryeri.

A book featuring their work, Between Dark and Light, was published by the University of
Technology, Sydney ePress in August 2022 which can be downloaded as open access at
https://doi.org/10.5130/aak