Latest Commission - Giant Willow Nest

Designed to sit on top of a 4m high tree trunk, the woven willow birds nest will feature a single large egg and nestled on the floor will be two fallen eggs.

During the recent Chelsea Flower Show a landscape architect firm saw my work and asked me to keep in touch with them. Then a few weeks ago I was asked to visit the site of their latest work, a new play adventure play area within a vast parkland.

The tree sits on the edge of the play area and having been topped leaving an impressive 4 metre trunk it cried out to have something done. So they enquired if it would be possible to create a large birds nest on the top. I said yes and provided some sketches of ideas and this week they confirmed the commission.

This is quite an exciting project, I have designed the nest in the style of a child’s drawing with a nest and a large egg sticking out. As we all know birds eggs lay deep inside the nest to be as safe and protected as possible, but when you look up from the ground all you see is the nest. As this project is for a children’s play area, I got down to a small child’s eye line and realised unless the egg was huge and very out of proportion, the egg would not be visible. So the finished design features an extremely large egg sitting within the nest. There will be 2 fallen eggs also so that the children may touch them and perhaps wonder which large creature had laid them, perhaps a Dinosaur or a giant bird!

Watch this space as the work develops, pictures to follow and the location revealed.

Green Garden Project Exhibition Opens

At Royal Derby Hospital visitors can see the exhibition charting the Green Garden Project from it’s start in 2009 with a pilot project, to the completion of the project in 2010 when it was showcased at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

The exhibition features 5 large boards showing sketches, photographs, testimonials and information and covers: The Pilot Project, Inspiration, The Workshops, Chelsea Flower Show and finally The Care Home. 

Running until September 2010 the exhibition will become part of air: arts to aid wellbeing and is Royal Derby Hospitals arts program. It supports the healing process with high quality art,which helps to create a therapeutic environment and a place in which patients, visitors and staff can engage positively with their surroundings.

Post Chelsea...Suffering with the Chelsea Bug!

Well it’s been nearly three weeks since the Chelsea Flower show ended and I have returned back to work in the studio, and it feels like something is missing.

To start with my studio feels very empty, for months the work for the flower show had been building up within my space and I had quite enjoyed the fullness, everywhere you looked there was work crammed into every nook and cranny. But, now it is all gone and there is a tidy clean studio space, I have space to move but it somehow feels unsettling. 

Secondly, I relished all the paper work and organising that went into such a huge event and now it’s all completed, the final report has been posted to Arts Council, the bills have been paid and the folder that I have carried round for almost 2 years has been neatly filed away.

It’s not like I’ve have been doing nothing since coming back, quite the opposite I have been busy sending out quotes and making new work and preparing for upcoming shows, but the excitement has gone. I’ve achieved my dream of showing at Chelsea, and now I don’t know what can replace the feeling. 

Perhaps this is the side affects of showing with the RHS at Chelsea, once you’ve been there and tasted it, you want more, I am sickening with the Chelsea bug, I want to do it again!!!

Action plan.

  1. Work my socks off
  2. Save like crazy
  3. Network, network
  4. Make loads of work
  5. Experiment with new designs and Ideas.
  6. Apply to RHS and lets hope they have me back.

Watch this space, Rachel’s cunning plan! (as Baldrick would say)

East Midlands Today

Rachel Carter and The Green Garden Project featured on BBC.

Yesterday the story of the green garden project being donated to Hargreaves Court after being shown at RHS Chelsea Flower Show was aired on BBC East Midlands Today program.

It’s very strange seeing your self on TV, but it was exciting seeing everyone at the garden party during the grand unveiling of the garden and sculptures. All the residents were there sitting in the garden watching Ruby, the eldest resident cutting the red ribbon and officially opening the garden.

I’m really pleased that the project has been covered so well in the media, people keep sending me cuttings from various newspapers and today in the school playground a few Mums and Dads stopped me to say ‘I saw you on the news last night!’