Sula Rubens studied at Central/St. Martin’s School of Art (BA Hons Fine Art), where she was influenced by working practices and theories of artist/tutors – Tricia Gillman, Alan Reynolds, Norman Ackroyd, Anthony Whishaw and Cecil Collins. Since graduating in 1989, she has practised as a painter and printmaker, living, working and exhibiting in many countries (including Gdansk, Poland; Amsterdam, Holland; Ireland, Greece and Spain). To see examples of Sula Rubens’ work throughout her career, visit the Home page of this site and click on the various posts showing the themes Sula has worked with. 

Follow Sula on Instagram: @sularubens

There is also a link at the bottom of all pages on this website.

Her work is represented in public and private collections in this country and abroad, including the The Royal Watercolour Society Diploma Collection, Leicestershire Collection for Schools and Colleges and the Town Council of Amsterdam. Residencies include the Westerkerk in Amsterdam, the South Lookout Tower on Aldeburgh beach and currently, Potton Hall Recording Studio in Suffolk. In  2014 she was appointed as the first Artist in Residence at The Michaelhouse in Cambridge. (See Residencies page.)

In 2019 she was elected by the Royal Watercolour Society to become an Associate Member. In 2022 she was honoured with full membership.

Wherever she is, close observation through drawing is integral to her work. She tends to work in series that evolve from her response to the circumstances she encounters.

Click on the images to view in more detail.

Throughout the year paintings and prints are on display at:

• Bankside Gallery, 48 Hopton Street, Thames Riverside, London SE1 9JH  http://www.banksidegallery.com  http://www.royalwatercoloursociety.co.uk

• Gallery East, 24 church Street, Woodbridge IP12 1DH http://www.galleryeast.co.uk

• Mandells Gallery Elm Hill, Norwich, Norfolk NR3 1HN Tel: +44 (0)1603 626892 http://www.mandellsgallery.co.uk

• Oakham Contemporary Art http://www.oakhamcontemporaryart.com

• The School House Gallery  Wighton, Norfolk  NR23 1AL Tel: +44  (0)1328 820457  
  

• Craftco  40 High Street, Southwold, Suffolk IP18 6AE Tel: +44 (0)1502 723211 http://www.craftco.co.uk

Selected Exhibitions

2023

Solo Exhibition – KIND Mandell’s Gallery, Norwich

2022

The Biennial International Prize “Fabriano Watercolour 2022” Exhibition – Paper & Watermark Museum, Fabriano, Italy. Nominated to participate

Solo Exhibition – Kinship  Chappel Galleries, Chappel, Essex

Reflections – Royal Watercolour Society, Bankside Gallery, London

Royal Watercolour Society, Horsham Museum & Art Gallery

Wales Contemporary 2022 (selected), Waterfront Gallery, Milford Haven, Wales & Oxo Gallery, London

2021

Out of the Blue –  Gallery East, Woodbridge, Suffolk

Drawn to the Line – Piers Feetham Gallery, London

Shortlisted for The Alpine Fellowship visual Arts Prize

“They can’t cancel Spring” online – Royal Watercolour Society

Hampstead Art Society Summer Exhibition, Fitzrovia Gallery, London

2020

 People & Places Gallery East, Woodbridge, Suffolk

Shortlisted for the Castlegate Prize, Castlegate House Gallery, Cockermouth, Cumbria

Regular Exhibitions as an Associate Member of the Royal Watercolour Society, Bankside Gallery, London

Borders – Firstsite Gallery, Colchester, Essex

Drawn to the Line – Piers Feetham Gallery, London

2019

Elected by the Royal Watercolour Society to become an Associate Member (ARWS)

Selected for The Contemporary Watercolour Competition Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London

Gallery East, Stillness Woodbridge, Suffolk

Mandell’s Gallery, Norwich

2018

Solo Exhibition – Kin  Mandell’s Gallery, Norwich

Chappel Galleries, Essex

Anna Airy Memorial Award Winners Exhibition  Ipswich Art Gallery

Musicians Snape Gallery, Aldeburgh Festival Suffolk

Southwold Arts Festival, Southwold, Suffolk

The School House Gallery, Wighton, Norfolk (since 1997)

Short listed for the Exhibition of The Sir John Hurt Art Prize, Holt Festival 2018 Norfolk

Selected for The Black Swan Arts Open 2018, Frome, Somerset

Print Exhibition, Craftco, Southwold, Suffolk

2017

Selected for the Exhibition of the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Award 2017 Piano Nobile, Kings Place, London

Mandells Gallery, Norwich – Seeing Through Drawing – A Celebration of John Berger         

Burgh House, Hampstead, London – “Coast to Coast”

Museum of National Pastime Collection commission Casey at the Bat San Mateo, California, U.S.A

Southwold Arts Festival, Southwold, Suffolk

2016  

Mandell’s Gallery, Norwich – A Figurative Presence

Hamburg Altonale, Germany

Southwold Arts Festival, Southwold Suffolk

The Merchant House Gallery, Lowestoft, Suffolk

2015          

Southwold Arts Festival, Southwold, Suffolk

Since 2003 Fry Gallery, Saffron Walden (Annual Exhibition-invited artist)

2014          

Michaelhouse Residency Exhibition – solo exhibition at the Michaelhouse, Cambridge

Ghosts of Gone Birds project and exhibition, Aldeburgh Beach Lookout, Caroline Wiseman Modern & Contemporary

 Belgrave St Ives Modern & Contemporary, Cornwall

Cricketers & Musicians, Craftco, Southwold Suffolk                                                                  

2013          

Potton Hall Residency Exhibition – solo exhibition

Mandell’s Gallery, Norwich

Cambridge City Art Fair (Mandell’s Gallery)

Belgrave St. Ives Modern & Contemporary, Cornwall

RE + New, Woodbridge, Suffolk (since 2010)

The School House Gallery, Wighton, Norfolk (since 1997)

2012        

Belgrave St. Ives Modern & Contemporary, Cornwall

 Mandell’s Gallery, Norwich

 South Lookout Tower Residency & Exhibition Caroline Wiseman Modern &  Contemporary, Aldeburgh, Suffolk

2011         

Mandell’s Gallery, Norwich

RE + New, Woodbridge, Suffolk (since 2010)                  

School House Gallery, Wighton, Norfolk (since 1997)

Pictures at an Exhibition Installation of Paintings to accompany Libor Novocek’s performance at Potton Hall, Suffolk

 i2 Art Gallery, Saffron Walden, Essex

 

2010          

 Craftco, Southwold, Suffolk

 

2008        

 Halesworth Festival, The Cut – invited artist alongside Margaret Mellis

2007        

Angela Mellor Gallery, Ely

2005        

Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London

Piers Feetham Gallery, London

2004          

Halesworth Gallery – solo exhibition

 Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge – solo exhibition

2003          

School House Gallery, Wighton, Norfolk – solo exhibition

2002          

Babylon Gallery, Ely

2001          

North House Gallery, Manningtree, Essex – solo exhibition

1998          

Heffers Gallery, Cambridge

1997          

Union of Artists, Blue Hall Gallery, St Petersburg, Russia

First Site Gallery, The Minories, Colchester

1996          

Gainsborough House, Sudbury, Drawings for All

1995          

Beatrice Royal Contemporary Art Gallery, Eastleigh – prize winner

1994          

De Muserije, Museum of Den Bosch, Holland – solo exhibition

1993        

 Europe Prize for Painting, Ostend – finalist

1992          

Brett Gallery, Hadleigh, Suffolk – solo exhibition

1991          

Trumpington Gallery, Cambridge – solo exhibition

1990          

The Laing Collection Exhibition (toured)

1989          

London Contemporary Arts, Chelsea Harbour, London

1986-9      St Martin’s School of Art. ( B.A. Honours Degree) Influenced by working practices and theories of  artist/ tutors –      Tricia Gillman, Alan Reynolds, Norman Ackroyd, Anthony Whishaw and Cecil Collins

Publications

The Jackdaw – Easel Words – Independent Views on the Visual Arts, (No. 155, Jan/Feb 2021)

Who’s who in Art – Artists in Britain since 1945, David Buckman (2006)

Seeing through Drawing – A Celebration of John Berger at Mandells Gallery (published by Objectif)

Throughout the year paintings and prints are on display at:

• Bankside Gallery, 48 Hopton Street, Thames Riverside, London SE1 9JH  http://www.banksidegallery.com  http://www.royalwatercoloursociety.co.uk

• Gallery East, 24 church Street, Woodbridge IP12 1DH http://www.galleryeast.co.uk

• Mandells Gallery Elm Hill, Norwich, Norfolk NR3 1HN Tel: +44 (0)1603 626892 http://www.mandellsgallery.co.uk

• The School House Gallery  Wighton, Norfolk  NR23 1AL Tel: +44  (0)1328 820457  
  

• Craftco  40 High Street, Southwold, Suffolk IP18 6AE Tel: +44 (0)1502 723211 http://www.craftco.co.uk

• Oakham Contemporary Art Tel: 01572 337580  http://www.oakhamcontemporaryart.com 

Awards/ Prizes

• The Castlegate Prize, Finalist: 2020
• Contemporary Watercolour Prize Exhibition, Finalist: 2019
• The Holt John Hurt Art Prize, Finalist: 2018
• The Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Award, Finalist: 2017
• Beatrice Royal Contemporary Art National Prize:1995
• Winsor & Newton Young Watercolourist Award: 1992
• New English Art Club/Marks & Spencer Award: 1991
• The Anna Airey Memorial Award for Painting: 1989, 1990, 1991
• Winsor & Newton/Royal Institute of Oil Painters’ Young Artists’ Award: 1989

When British ships belonging to what was known as the First Fleet were dispatched under Govenor Philip to Australia during the late 1780’s, their task was to found a penal colony to which British felons could be transported.

One of the by-products of this epic journey was an upsurge in knowledge of Australian natural history. The White Gallinule was one of the creatures to be discovered during the expedition. It lived on Lord Howe Island, a small and isolated piece of land lying some 480 km off the eastern coast of Australia. Men who visited the island were easily able to kill the birds with sticks and because of this fact, it is likely that the White Gallinule was flightless. Once man began to visit the island regularly, the species’ days were numbered and it seems to have survived only a few decades after the coming of the First Fleet.

The White Gallinule stands on its island. On the horizon is the shape of a distant ship (bringing men who will soon destroy the species)

This picture is made on a page from an Encyclopaedia from around 1905. Within the body of the bird, you can see a map of Australia and to the East, Lord Howe Island where the White Gallinule lived.

This picture was included in the Ghosts of Gone Birds project and exhibition curated by Chris Aldhous in 2014 at Caroline Wiseman Modern & Contemporary, Aldeburgh Suffolk.