Rachel Scott

Weaving (1976–present)

Before she started weaving, Scott tore up and dyed white baby clothes, nappies and sheets and to make braided rag rugs. and took weekend courses in spinning and tapestry weaving at the Handweavers Studio in Walthamstow.

Scott’s then-husband found wood from a skip to make her an upright frame loom, which she used to make hand-woven rugs. Scott had been inspired by an exhibition of Navajo blankets that she had seen at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London in May or June 1973.

She spun the wool for the rugs using a spinning wheel made by her brother. It consisted of a long bobbin screwed to a Singer sewing machine base.

Clothes

Scott began making clothes as a child and knitted jumpers for her father and brother. Difficulties with getting the sizing right led her to make knitted rectangles that she sewed together so that the size could be adapted to the wearer. Scott continues to only wear the clothes she has made: handmade crocheted and knitted woollen suits in the winter and patchwork cotton dresses in the summer. She stopped making new garments in the early 2000s, instead replacing and mending what already exists.

Frank Bowling

In 1977 Scott reconnected with the abstract artist Frank Bowling who was spending more time in London after living in New York since 1966. She and Bowling first met when they were both students of painting at the Royal College of Art. They married in 2013.

From the 1980s onwards, Bowling named some of his paintings after Scott, including a series called Rachel in 1989 and 1991, and Scottscarkeysaltar in 1983, that has Scott’s car keys embedded in the work.

Scott has supported Bowling in his artmaking,

Family life Scott and Bowling live in Pimlico, London.

Scott has two daughters, Marcia and Iona, both of whom are professional artists. Iona is a sculptor and multimedia artist.

Awards and recognition

At the Aljira Fine Art Auction in Newark, New Jersey in May 2013, Frank Bowling and Rachel Scott received, jointly, Aljira's first Timehri Lifetime Achievement Award.

Selected exhibitions Exhibitions (paintings)

1964 Stroud Festival, Gloucestershire 1964 Brighton Art Gallery, Sussex 1964 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London 1964 Royal College of Art Gallery, London [two-person] 1964 London Group [elected a member of the London Group], Art Federation Galleries, London 1965 London Group, RBA Galleries, London 1966 London Group, Piccadilly, London 1972 Five Painters, Royal College of Art Gallery, London 1980 Piccadilly Gallery, Cork Street, London

Exhibitions (weaving) 1979 Mag Mell Gallery, Paddington Street, London 1981 Friars Walk Craft Centre, Maldon, Essex [solo] 1984 Spitalfields Workspace, Heneage Street, London [solo] 1986–87 Open Studios, Cable Street, London 1988 Cuming Library, Walworth Road, London 1990 Southwark Open, South London Gallery, London 1991 St Stephen's Church, Stockwell, London 1993 Beyond Function, Brenau University Gallery, Gainesville, Georgia, USA 1998 Tithe Barn, Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire 1999 Horizons 99, The Crystal Glass Centre, Stourbridge, Worcestershire 2003–19 Pullens Open Studios, Peacock Yard, London 2006 Liberty, London, 30 rugs bought and displayed [solo] 2008 Origin: The London Craft Fair, Somerset House, London 2008 Must Have More, Aspex, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth 2008 Handspun, Dyed and Undyed, Queens Hall Art Centre, Hexham, Northumberland [solo] 2010–13 Handmade in Britain, Chelsea Old Town Hall, London 2011 Origin: The Contemporary Craft Fair, Old Spitalfields Market, London 2011 Heimtextil, Frankfurt, Germany 2012 A Family Affair, The Cello Factory, London 2013 Selvedge Winter Fair, Chelsea Old Town Hall, London 2014 O’Dell’s, Shoreditch, London Design Festival, London 2015 Warp and Weft, Cookhouse Gallery, Chelsea College of Art, London 2016 3 Women Artists: Wool, Clay and Paint, The Cello Factory, London 2016 Makers House, A collaboration between Burberry and The New Craftsmen, London 2017 Textiles: Rachel Scott at Hales Gallery, Hales Gallery, London [solo] 2017 Animal, Vegetable and Mineral, The New Craftsmen, Mayfair, London 2018 New Work, Hampstead School of Art, London [solo] 2021 Rachel Scott – Tapestry Weaving, Malmstensbutiken, Stockholm, Sweden 2022 Competere: An Exhibition of Artist Couples, The Bo Bartlett Center, Columbus State University, Georgia, USA 2022 Winter Exhibition, Darl-e and the Bear, Woodstock, New York 2022 Weaving my World, MAKE, Hauser & Wirth, Bruton, Somerset [solo] 2023 With My Hands, MAKE, Hauser & Wirth, Southampton, Long Island, New York [solo] 2024–25 Landscape in Weaving, Hampstead School of Art, London [solo]