Rachel Scott - Landscape in Weaving
For many years I have been a huge admirer of Rachel Scott’s hand-woven rugs, so I was very touched when she asked me to write a short essay for the catalogue for the current exhibition of her work at the Hampstead School of Art. The show is titled Rachel Scott - Landscape in Weaving and is on until 6 January 2025.
You can read my text below.
Rachel Scott – a weaver’s perspective.
A few years ago, a design journalist asked me which contemporary weaver I most admired. There was no hesitation in my reply – ‘Oh Rachel Scott of course. She stands with perfect poise at the intersection of weave and art: aesthetic expression and domestic function. I see no hierarchy in these spheres - she simply creates and constructs exquisite rugs.’
Rachel originally trained as a painter at the Royal College of Art in the late 1950’s - early ‘60’s. You can see a painter’s eye for composition, space and balance in her work. It is in weaving though, largely self-taught and finely honed over the decades, that Rachel has found her true calling – weave is her self-expression and rugs are her métier.
Rachel uses a tapestry technique, working on an upright frame loom. She manipulates the warp by hand – her fingers picking up the odd and then the even threads with extraordinary speed and rhythm. Watching her weave you are reminded of a harpist. She starts weaving at the bottom of the rug, sitting on the floor in front of the loom. As the rug grows up the frame she sits, then stands and finally steps up onto on a chair in order to work at the correct height. The size of the rug is determined by the dimensions of the frame - a satisfying set of parameters in which to work.
Parameters too are set by her palette, drawn as it is from natural undyed British sheep’s wool. Rachel spins all of the yarn herself in the studio - working with undyed fleeces from small sheep farmers throughout the country. The colour ranges from deep chocolate brown ‘Welsh Black’ fleeces through to caramel ‘Manx Logthans’ and ‘Herdwicks’ in all their grey hues. The range of tones in Rachel’s palette is extraordinary and her knowledge of British sheep breeds is vast.
The shapes and motifs in Rachel’s work are clean and graphic. Working from a familiar repertoire of diagonal and triangular forms – shapes which lend themselves to her weave technique – Rachel creates a multitude of compositions. Overall designs may be repeated, but each piece is completely unique and replete with all the subtle nuances of making by hand with a natural material.
Rachel’s weaving is characterized by the same economy of approach which informs her aesthetic - she has honed and perfected the techniques she uses, and the movements are deeply ingrained in her body. There is a real grace to the way she works.
Although her rugs are often hung on the wall, for me their functionality is paramount, and the tactile sensory experience of them is fundamental. We have three of her woven rugs in our home – we use them every day, and take great pleasure in their beauty and their functionality. There is something very intimate about walking on their warm and welcoming surface in bare feet – a momentary daily pilgrimage, bringing you into a tactile connection with Rachel’s hands, the wool, and at some unconscious level, the sheep, and the landscapes they inhabit.
Eleanor Pritchard
October 2024
