rachel schwalm

Rachel was born in London in 1969. She trained at North Devon College, Art and Design and graduated from The University of East London with a degree in Fine Arts/Sculpture. She has exhibited widely in the UK since 1990 and has work in private collections in France, Germany, Italy, Russia, USA, Switzerland and the Middle East. Winchester Cathedral commissioned a new altar-piece for the Cathedral’s Venerable Chapel which was completed in 2011. Rachel chose Jerusalem limestone for the work. My work is a collision of two worlds, painting and sculpture, but it has its origins in painting and architecture, which has inspired the proportions and scaling-up element in my work. Notable influences include the American minimalists such as Donald Judd and painters of light such as Rembrandt. Within the marble and alabaster stone panels I cut cavities. I see these as ‘Light-filled thresholds to other worlds’ offering a glimpse back in time, palimpsest-like, ‘trace’ has been laid upon ‘trace’. The windows in the wall-hung works are poignant holding spaces, echoing pockets, where ‘emotions’ are suspended in pigment, broken chalk lines and dust. The outdoor marble pillar shown at on form 2012 represents a lone figure in the landscape.