Staff at Ruda Holiday Park, Croyde, are set to become the subjects of a New York exhibition following a visit from one of Britain's leading contemporary painters, Caroline Walker.
Often exploring the notion of ‘women’s work’, Caroline provides a unique window into the everyday lives of women, capturing specific spaces such as pharmacies, tailors, beauty salons, laboratories, bathhouses and modernist apartments. During her recent four-day stay at Parkdean Resorts’ Ruda Holiday Park, Caroline collaborated with the park to go behind the scenes, observing and photographing female team members across Entertainment, Catering and Beach Management, with the photos serving as the inspiration and source material for her upcoming series of paintings.
Caroline’s upcoming exhibition is due to be showcased at GRIMM gallery in New York next March. Her observations from the North Devon holiday park, set to feature in the finished pieces, include female team members setting up and leading the children’s entertainment, overseeing swimming sessions, and Ruda’s Beach Manager, Holly Robertson, leading beach cleans and activities for children and local primary school groups.
Artist Caroline Walker said: “Through my paintings I try to capture something of contemporary women’s experiences, often focusing on their working lives. I’m grateful to the team at Ruda for welcoming me and allowing me to experience such a wide range of exciting environments and dedicated staff.
“The highlights of my stay were observing the lifeguards at the swimming pool and meeting Holly, who was incredibly helpful and interesting to speak to while leading beach cleans, a pond dipping class, and a rock pooling session for a group of local primary school children. I think I have the makings of what could be a very interesting series of paintings, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Rob Warner, Operations Director at Parkdean Resorts, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Caroline to Ruda Holiday Park. We employ almost 200 full-time team members, who work hard to create amazing memories for the thousands of families who visit the park each year. It’s an honour to have our team celebrated in Caroline’s paintings, and we can’t wait to see the finished artwork.”
For her series, Caroline also stayed at Parkdean Resorts’ Warmwell Holiday Park in Dorset. Parkdean Resorts is the UK’s leading holiday park operator, and owns and operates 66 award-winning holiday parks across the UK. In the company’s 2024 People Engagement Survey, completed by almost 6,500 full-time employees, favourable engagement stood at 83% - up two points from 2023’s results, and a massive 15% higher than the industry average for the hospitality sector.
The company also recently invested almost £900,000 to upgrade accommodation and add new facilities at its two parks in North Devon, Ruda and Bideford Bay, and announced a recruitment drive to employ 750 new staff across Devon and Dorset.
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