Ruth Gray Images: Ripley Rattler Project Revealed

I've been reluctant to announce my new project publicly mainly because the plans I have for it are ambitious and a bit mad to be honest! I was asked to exhibit at DH Lawrence Museum in 2014 and its such a great space I felt I wanted to push my boundaries a bit and see if I could research and produce a decent body of work that related to the space and the area.

Its good for an artist to have opportunities like this and if used properly an they can really tell a story about something they are passionate about.

I have a love for my local area especially Market Towns I also have a love of trams and public transport in a nostalgic kind of way. I love how the towns have their own identity yet when passed through on buses they merge into each other. I want to fill the space with a colourful journey!

My plan is to paint 40 pieces of work taking the route shown below:

Original Map I Sourced at Crich Tramway Museum

This is a celebration of the iconic 'Ripley Rattlers Route', which operated from 1913 - 1933 by the Nottinghamshire & Derby tramway company, named so because of the route they ran on which the trams would uncontrollably 'Rattle', The service had a reputation for being one of the most dangerous tramways in Britain and was even described in the short story 'Tickets, Please!' by D.H. Lawrence. My aim is to produce a contemporary view of the route as it is now.

At Easter me and my Dad spent a morning in the research room at Crich Tramway for me to find out some facts and give me a background of the route, my favourite fact was that not only was it the most dangerous route it was also run by women and cripples during the first world war as the fit and able were fighting, I love that and I found this wonderful picture of a very smart lady by her tram.

So far I have completed 10 works so a quarter of the way there, and because I'm a quarter of the way there I feel confident enough to tell you all about it!

Today I went off to Kimberly where there was a celebration of this 100 year route to do more research! And I found this very smart lady next to her bus!