Bio

Rebecca Powell

Born in the UK in 1962, Rebecca has lived in the south west of Ireland since 1990 with a few years spent in Morocco and Spain.

Silk and wool feature predominantly in Rebecca’s textile work which along with linen, plant matter, seaweed, shells, woodland foraged treasures and beads as well as recycled jewellery, she layers and hand stitches to create wall art pieces. She also felts and nuno felts to create pieces both wearable and decorative.

In recent years she has become more conscious of where her materials and resources are sourced. This has led Rebecca to look for natural and sustainable ways to add colour and design to her textiles. She buys raw fleeces from a West Cork farmer, wool from Irish woollen mills and local businesses. Seaweeds and mushrooms hold a fascination for her, not just to eat, but for dyeing and printing. Flowers, leaves, berries, twigs, seed heads, ferns and more also feature in her alchemical world along with rusty metal of which there many pieces in buckets in her greenhouse for mordant free dyeing. Rebecca is drawn to the idea that even when these have finished their life or life cycle, they continue to exist and are then celebrated within her work. They also feature in her subject matter particularly in the silk and wool wall art pieces that she creates to celebrate her passion for the great outdoors, the Irish landscapes, treasures she finds out walking, nature’s bounty and a deep connection to all things wild.

As well as creating textile wall art pieces that touch your soul, reminding you of what it is to be human, Rebecca collects seaweed and woodland treasures to print on silk and linen which are then made into one of a kind garments or stand-alone pieces that draw the viewer in where a fantastical world comes alive for those who dare to rest their gaze.

A fascination for trees and their extensive symbiotic neighbours enticed Rebecca to create fungi and mushrooms, bowls and sculptural pieces from wool and silk fibres in various forms using both wet and needle felting.

 “My conversations with nature are the driving force, my sense of place, of connectedness and of wonder. I love that my creations are ever evolving.”