POWER LINES, St Matthias Church, Brighton
An installation was commissioned by St Matthias Church in Brighton for their carol service in December 2024. Lit from below, Power Lines conveys the dynamic relationship between humanity and the transcendent. Descending from a wheel which seems to hover in space, the upper and lower sections spiral towards each other like two tornadoes, connecting in the middle and yielding metaphorical blossoms. All the materials are recycled: a bicycle wheel, car suspension springs, electrical cable and fruit netting wrap.
SPRING RISING, Lewes
Made from salvaged materials including a mattress core, windscreen wipers, electrical cable and assorted springs, this piece was made for a shop window display on Lewes High Street to promote a local event. The figure is intentionally ambiguous, with references to ‘new life’ in Nature, the yoga asana known as ‘chair pose’ and the risen Christ springing forth from presupposed bodily destruction. Shown in the former Lewes Tourist Office, April 11-22nd, 2025.
TRESPASSERS at Lovebrook Farm, Lewes
The TRESPASSERS sculpture trail was a bold visual commentary on the historical marginalisation of common land and the perceived authority of ‘private property’ in the UK. Intended as a touring project, the show premiered at Lovebrook Farm near Lewes in summer 2024. Nicholson conceived and curated the exhibition where her works and those of two other sculptors were exhibited in the old dairy building, the chicken shed, and in the fields and open spaces. The sculpture trail led audiences in and out of the farm buildings, around the site and up to the standing stone at its uppermost point. Inspired by literature such as The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes and The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible by Charles Eisenstein, the artists recently explored similar themes in an urban setting (Strange Environments at The Tate Institute, London).
Coup d'Etat, 2023, reclaimed farm gate and unearthed fence parts. The fence rebels against the authority of the gate. A commentary on land enclosure and our conditioned deference to the discourse of private ownership.
Found, 2023, reclaimed Victorian crib, jute yarn and found beach objects. This piece is a reflection on our limited willingness to protect natural waterways.
Ring Road, 2024, welded salvaged steel on wooden post. This interactive kinetic piece is about the roads and roundabouts that divide us from Nature, whilst also offering us passage into the countryside.
Tailspin, 2024, reclaimed metal truss, steel plate and coloured cord. A commentary on biodiversity, poised between nosedive and revival.
Change Gate, 2024, reclaimed sheep shedding gate, painted and stencilled with words around regenerative farming and the vested interests that oppose it. This piece is interactive.
Barbie, 2024, wire, braid and wool. Barbed wire made with soft pink braid and silken silver 'barbs'.
Sit Still, 2024, wooden chair, metal rod and wire. The education system requires learners to be quiet and still but what gets lost?
Dappled, 2024, reclaimed fence parts laid in an area of soft dappled light, echoing the patterns of light. Questioning our supposed ownership of Nature's aspects, which are often ephemeral or ungraspable.
Harrow, 110x95x9cm, agricultural harrow hung in the dairy and woven with rope and yarn found on the farm. The lines of yarn hint at historical strip farming which preceded land enclosure for private ownership, a process which devastated many local farmers.
Woven Window, 2024, found metal grid, fused glass, electrical cable, fishing twine and found metal objects. Placed in front of an existing window in the farm dairy, this piece refers to the constructed mental grids and filters through which we view Nature.
Ghost Monkeys
An installation for the gardens of St Johns Waterloo, London, Ghost Monkeys was exhibited in a tall tree over summer 2024. The piece is made with loosely assembled rope, saws and chains.
Inspired by reports of howler monkeys falling from trees in Mexico during extreme heat in May 2024, the piece evokes the ghostly memory of the monkeys and their exuberant movements. The image is fragmented, foregrounding their dynamic movement. The salvaged saws, ropes and chains reference the infringement on their territory through deforestation.
FRESH AIR SCULPTURE 2024, Quenington, Gloucestershire
Fresh Air Sculpture invited the artist to create two bespoke, site-specific installations for their biennial show. In response to a disused watermill and an orange safety ring by the river, Nicholson created a free-standing interactive piece and a wall-based piece to be positioned on the stone wall above the mill race.
FREE WHEEL, 2024, 165 x 25 x 150cm. Recycled steel, painted. A functional object breaks free from its job description.
RING ROAD, 2024, 165 x 75 x 15cm. Recycled steel parts, painted & mounted on a wooden stake. Interactive, kinetic. An ironical comment on our dumbed down relationship with nature owing to road encroachment and safety restrictions.
Ring Road, 2024, welded salvaged steel on wooden post. This interactive kinetic piece references the roads and roundabouts that divide us from Nature whilst also offering passage into the countryside.
Free Wheel, 2024, welded steel. This large piece suspended over the mill race references a nearby disused waterwheel. The lower buckets are conventional in shape and placement but the buckets slowly transform as they ascend, gaining colour and confidence, until the final bucket seems ready to fly into to the sky, defying its job description.
Strange Environments at ReinsTate, London
Since summer 2024, ReinsTate project has been transforming the historical Tate Institute building into an arts venue for the local community. Rachael Nicholson joined a 3-day artist takeover, with Melissa Pierce Murray and Jane Sarre, to create site-specific works and transform some of the internal spaces. Critiquing private property and land ownership in England, Nicholson used discarded materials found on-site to create ephemeral sculptural works. Perforated metal strips, old fencing and a discarded mattress were utilised to create artworks. Visitors were asked to write comments on paper aeroplanes about the nearby London City Airport before launching them into a room. As the building is opposite the immense Tate & Lyle sugar factory, there were also works referencing the slavery and colonisation behind the sugar industry.
PATHWAYS 2023, Hook Green Wood, Lamberhurst, Kent
Responding to the site and its history, several sculptural works were installed in a private woodland, rich in biodiversity, for a collaborative group exhibition. Members of the public were encouraged to interact with the works and create their own 3D artworks using recycled materials.
TAILSPIN, 2023, 175 x 52 x 47cm. Sections of folded steel sheet inserted into vertical steel truss, with interlaced yellow and red cord. Tension between biodiversity and revival.
FOUND, 2023, 98 x 57 x 100cm. Salvaged crib, jute string and found objects from rivers and waterways. The piece evokes a lobster trap but also a Moses basket in the reeds, questioning how we care for our natural waterways.
COUP D’ETAT, 2023, 100 x 156 x 8cm. Reclaimed gate and fence. The gate is overwhelmed by a fence it is supposed to be keeping in check. Whose land is it anyway?
ELECTRIC HUSK, 2023, 139x 48 x 46cm. Salvaged electric cable and steel wire. A reminder of our reliance on electric power. Inside the bright outer husk, there is a smaller and darker husk emerging.
Farley’s House Sculpture Garden
“Lee Miller and Roland Penrose moved to the Sussex countryside to live at Farleys in 1949. For the 35 years that followed they filled their home with a collection of contemporary art treasures and were visited by some of the key personalities of twentieth century art. Today Farleys is the base of the Lee Miller Archives and The Penrose Collection from which books, exhibitions and reproduction rights are privately managed by the family.” www.farleyshouseandgallery.co.uk
Grounded and Blown have been on semi-permanent display at the sculpture garden at Farley’s House in Chiddingly, East Sussex since 2021.
Grounded, 2020, 155 x 95 x 45cm, painted steel. Winner of the Morley Gallery selectors’ choice prize in London, this piece was exhibited in the street level display windows of the Elizabeth House building, Waterloo, London, for 6 months.
Blown, 2010, 84 x 65 x 65cm, painted steel.
