Derek Carruthers (b.1935

Derek Carruthers was born in Penrith, Cumbria in 1935. He is a British artist and art teacher.

Carruthers studied (1953-1957) at the Fine Art Department of Kings College Durham University (Hatton Gallery) - now part of the University of Newcastle - under Victor Pasmore (Master of Painting), Richard Hamilton and Lawrence Gowing (Professor of Fine Art, 1948-58).

Carruthers taught at Sunderland College of Art (1957 to 1964), Leicester College of Art (1964 to 1973) and Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham - as Professor of Fine Art (1973-1988) - before retiring in 1988.

Solo exhibitions include Univision Gallery, Newcastle (1957); 'Mobile Constructions on the Theme of Interfusion', Drian Gallery, London (1963); 'Artisan: Paintings by Derek Carruthers', Abbot Hall Gallery, Kendal (1980) and 'Derek Carruthers: Exhibition of Painting (1985-1988)', Bonington Gallery, Nottingham (1988).

Groups exhibitions include 'Abstracts', Hatton Gallery, Newcastle (1954); 'Art, Machine and Environment' - a Durham University Fine Art Department exhibition held at the Laing Art Gallery (1958). Other exhibitors / contributors to this exhibition (organised by Victor Pasmore) included Barbara Hepworth, Robin Day, Richard Hamilton, Victor Pasmore, Terry Frost, Ben Nicholson and Paul Feiler. Carruthers exhibited three works - 'Relief (No.17)', 'Mobile (No.18)' and 'Space construction (No.21)'. '26 Young Sculptors', ICA, London (1961); 'Construction England' (1963), a touring exhition (England and Wales) organised by Arts Council of Great Britain. 'Construction England' was an extension of the hugely successful touring (USA and Canada) exhibition 'British Constructivist Art (1961-1962)' when it returned home to the UK. 'British Constructivist Art' exhibiting artists were Stephen Gilbert, Anthony Hill, Kenneth Martin, Mary Martin, Victor Pasmore, and American-born John Ernest. Alongside Carruthers, the additional 'Construction England' artists were Maurice Agis, Scott Campbell, John Ernest, Garth Evans, Colin Jones, Peter Lowe, Matt Rugg and Gillian Wise.

Other group exhibitions include 'Geometric Environment' (1962), A.I.A Gallery, London; 'Structure', Welsh Arts Council and 'British Abstract Art of the 50s and 60s', Belgrave Gallery, London (1992).

Examples of Derek Carruthers' work are held in several public collections including Northern Arts Association, Bradford Art Gallery and Leicester University.