About Me
Ruth E. Helmling is a printmaker, sailor and journalist based in Turanganui-a-kiwa, Gisborne, New Zealand. Her creative works reflect the one thread binding all of her zigzag ways across the planet together: the ocean. Originally a forest girl, the call of the sea has more often than not led her to change tack. Quite literally. After a promising career in journalism, she followed the ocean’s call. In 2008 she went off to sail the seven seas on traditional sailing vessels featuring three masts and up to thirty sails. Well above 60 000 nautical miles and a couple of nautical degrees later, she got washed to the shores of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Here, for the first time in her life, she finds it hard to leave.
Here, she started picking up pen and paper again, since 2021 adding ink into the bargain. Lucky enough to have New Zealand’s longest going Printmaking Group right at her doorstep, this ancient craft with no one path and zillions of possibilities has quickly manifested itself as her primary means of creative expression.
Ruth E., better known as ‘Ninja’, also writes, draws, surfs, sews, and loves sending ‘real’ mail to friends and family. She has not quite abandoned her nomadic ways and owns a very colorful van, proudly furnished and painted by herself. Most of the time, you can find it parked up at her favorite beach while she is ‘out back’ in her element, waiting for a wave.
“Being an ocean wanderer has filled my mind and soul with endless memorable moments. Like pieces of a mosaic, scattered across the planet, they make up my life. Printmaking has giving me a language beyond words to share those impressions of beauty and awe, of downfalls and soaring heights. Printmaking, like the sea, is an endless source of colour and line, light and shadow, ever changing patterns. My art has no deeper meaning than the simple joy of life and humbling beauty and size of the universe. If I can open the eyes of your inner child for just one instant, I will be content. To quote one of my favourite German writers, Erich Kästner: “Only those who grow up and remain a child, are human.”
Sails &the Sea
Ruth E. – ‘Ninja’ – ran off to sea after finishing high school in 2001. On the Dutch Ijsselmeer, she learned the craft of traditional sailing, before returning to Germany for some ‘proper adult life’ – studying, working on a career and such. In 2008, she could not ignore the call of the sea anymore and got herself hired on a tall ship with three masts and thirty sails. Juggling journalism and sailing for more than a decade, the sea gradually won over (almost). By now, ‘captain ninja’ has been on the helm for more than 60 000 miles across all Seven Seas, including both the Arctic (Polar Bears) and the Antarctic (Penguins).
Pen & Paper
Ruth E. Helmling started her journalism career during high school, writing reports on classical concerts for the local newspaper and running the high school magazine. With her studies at the Cologne School for Journalism and at the University of Cologne, she launched into writing freelance across the entire media landscape. Her main focus being Germany’s largest weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT. More recently, articles have been published for a younger audience in the KinderZEIT and ZEITLeo and republished in several books. Since 2017, she is also a full member of the New Zealand Society of Authors.
Fluent in German, English and Dutch and a bit of a language geek, the odd translating job also finds its way to her desk. In 2024 this involved translating a book on mobility and our society from Dutch into German.
Current position on Planet Earth
Well, yes, there are many times you won’t find me Gizzy. I could be out at sea, or scrambling down a canyon in South Africa, or visiting friends and families back in Europe. On the globe you will find my last known position.