Exploring the Familiar - Arts Council Funded

Image: Lyme Park - Upon a Decorative Fountain.

Credit Rachael Prime

Exploring the Familiar is a Developing your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England (ACE) that was successfully secured by Rachael Prime. The project is to help Rachael develop two areas of her practice:

Exploring the natural world on her own door step, developing new partnerships and networks with local and regional organisations, including scientists working within her own community. To help Rachael to develop artworks inspired by the work of these organisations and individuals from the scientific community.
Developing new environmentally friendly techniques within her own practice such as: Natural dye techniques to reduce the amount of plastic she uses in synthetic fabric paint and explore her own family heritage craft of rope work and knot tying to help create new ways to exhibit her work without the us of single use plastic.

The first strand of the project will see Rachael working with a local organisation Mersey Gateway Environmental Trust and artist, Dr Antony Hall. Through these partnerships Rachael hopes to develop ways to explore scientific projects and create techniques to record and showcase their work. Allowing audiences engage with them in new and creative ways. Inspired by the work Rachael has created since 2020 around Moss and Lichen she will be exploring the small and often over looked flora within her own community of Halton.

The second strand is to help Rachael to learn new skills on how to reduce the amount of single use plastic in her work, reduce the amount of fabric waste and learn new curation techniques using a heritage craft passed down within her own family. Combining hands on (face to face) learning sessions with experts as well as online distance courses, she will explore and experiment with these techniques to inform the development of her larger artworks.

After a small delay in the start of the project, due to illness, Rachael is keen to explore the natural world at her feet and see her home towns, Runcorn and Widnes, from a familiar but different point of view. The project is due to run from January to October 2023.

Rachael would like to thank ACE for their support as well as all of the other partners within the project.