Rachel Fenner
Rachel Fenner painted most of her paintings as a release after lockdown last summer, when she was finally able to visit ancient woodlands and the coast.
Rachel was one of the first environmental sculptors in the seventies and eighties, working for councils all over Britain making public spaces into artworks relating to the natural world. She has always had a passion for nature, particularly its detail and the processes of growth, decay and regeneration.
Many of the works in this show are inspired by the ancient original woodland Ty-canol in Wales, of which very little remains, but which comes to us in these paintings as a powerful and precious resource. When she visited Ty-canol it was, she says, ‘intense, like a revelation’. “I felt surrounded by personalities who were interacting with each other. I thought, I love this place and these paintings poured out in the following weeks.” Rachel’s way of painting relates to the Modern British painters pre and post WWII, with elements of Paul Nash and Graham Sutherland coming into a voice that is nevertheless absolutely her own.
The exhibition takes place at Sladers Yard,
