BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
Like many people,artist Rachel Tinniswood is taking advantage of lockdown to slow down and to reflect on her work. Living in the beautiful surroundings of Anaverna, Ravensdale she is spending a lot of time outdoors, gardening and soaking up the beauties of nature.
‘I work part-time for Rehabcare and also facilitate art classes in nursing homes so all that has stopped,’ she says. ‘I have had to the time to be at home, to do a lot of gardening, photography and Instagramming.’
This is proving to be time well spent as it is providing the inspiration for a new body of work which she will be showing with Bridge Street Studios in
November.
‘Being on lockdown has given me a lot of time to reflect obviously, as it has done for a lot of people, and also to get round to those jobs that I have been putting off. ‘
One of those tasks is setting up a website where she can share and promote her work. ‘ This is now something that I have set my mind to do in the next month or two.’
‘I joined Bridge Street Studios 12 years ago,’ says Rachel, who is originally from Derby in England. Having studied glass and ceramic design at Buckinghamshire, she came to live in Ireland about 15 or 16 years ago.
‘I have strong family ties with
Ireland. I have an uncle who is a writer who spends about six or seven months every year living in West and my brother and his wife live near Ardee’
It was when her brother was restoring his house, that she began to visit and discovered she really liked it here.
Now well-established in the local arts scene, Rachel says she finds Co Louth ‘a great place to live - there is a lot going on with Bridge Street Studios, An Tain Arts Centre, Creative Spark, Louth Craftmark and Art as Exchange (AAEX).
She is looking forward to returning to work in Bridge Street Studios and taking part in their forthcoming exhibition entitle ‘Silver’ which sees the studio members responding to a poem by local writer Barbara Smith.
Although she trained in glass and ceramic design, Rachel now works as a textile artist, finding inspiration for her creations in the lush Irish countryside.
‘I love gardens - both my brothers are gardeners and one keeps bees,’ she says. ‘ We were influenced by our Mum who is a really good gardener, so we grew up with gardening. Our grandparents were also gardeners and also grew fruit and vegetables.’
That love of gardening stayed with Rachel, and she says that over the years she always grew flowers and plants, whether in pots in a backyard or in allotments.
Flora motifs and other designs inspired by natured find their way into her work, whether it is textiles, drawings or paintings.
‘Because my degree was in 3D work I tend to like to work in 3D. I dabbled with felt making, before moving onto embroidery and textiles.’
She enjoys experimenting and learning new techniques, attending courses at Creative Spark, where she has also giving classes.
While she has been enjoying gardening -’I’m an untidy gardener, there’s always a weed or two’ - she has also been using technology to keep in contact with fellow Bridge Street Studio members over Zoom. ‘It’s keeping us focused and we can exchange our thoughts and ideas for our art which is nice.’
She is looking forward to returning to work in Bridge Street Studios and taking part in their forthcoming exhibition entitle ‘Silver’ which sees the studio members responding to a poem by local writer Barbara Smith.
As well as exhibiting with Bridge Street Studios in their annual exhibitions, Rachel has shown work with Louth CraftMark at their Winter Fair in Bellurgan Park, as well as Listoke and most recently in the exhibition ‘Glowing WorksThat Make The Heart Sing’ in memory of Patricia Murphy in the Basement Gallery.