90th Anniversary : Outstanding Women
For May, our first pair of amazing women is Rachel and Judy. RACHEL CARTER (photo on left, below) is the sculptor of ‘Standing In This Place’, a bronze statue recognising the legacies of the transatlantic cotton workers, installed in the heart of the rejuvenated Broad Marsh area in Nottingham City Centre. JUDY ROBINSON (seen on left of second photo, below) is a member of Soroptimist International Nottingham, campaigner for more representation of women in public art and the model for one of the figures.
RACHEL CARTER says : working with organisations such as Nottingham’s Soroptimists, is really important especially when working on new public realm pieces such as Standing In This Place. The collaboration and inclusion of many members allows them to take ownership of my work as they feel connected and a part of the work. In the words of Maya Angelou (1928-2014) “Let me remind all women that we live longer and better lives when we have sisters we love, not necessarily born in our bloodline or of our race.”
Rachel’s Work and achievements
Artistic – Working from The Garden Studio on the Derbyshire / Nottinghamshire border, she works with hand processes and the ancient lost wax technique to create large scale public realm sculpture, alongside sculptures for home and garden.
Process – Since graduating with a Sustainable Applied Arts degree Rachel has been driven by the application of hand weaving processes to create intricate textures and forms for sculpture. Using the lost wax casting technique, she continues to collaborate with Pangolin Editions foundry to push the boundaries of this craft form, combining historic textile techniques with new digital technologies.
History – Many of her commissions are underpinned by a love of history, and she sees the opportunity to represent our shared and complex histories within sculpture as an honour. Looking at her own ancestry often provides inspiration for new work, adding to a long legacy of weavers, knotters and makers that stretch back over 350 years of the East Midlands industrial heritage.
Community – Rachel’s latest project Standing In This Place is an arts and heritage project in collaboration with the Legacy Makers group formed in 2014 by Bright Ideas Nottingham and the collaborative community-academic Global Cotton Connections project. It looks to highlight the contributions and connections between white mill workers and black enslaved women uprooted to the Americas, showing how their stories and histories are connected by cotton, sorrow, strength and resilience.
Standing In This Place https://www.rachelcarter.co.uk/
Rachel Carter Sculpture https://www.standinginthisplace.co.uk/welcome
JUDY ROBINSON tells how her involvement with the project and with Soroptimists came about. Standing In This Place makes history as the UK’s first sculpture to recognise the transatlantic cotton trade story, as well as addressing the imbalance that less than 5% of Britain’s sculptures portray non-royal women – and even fewer are women of colour.
In retirement I was fortunate to find a group who wanted to dance and needed a facilitator. Deane McQueen’s experience, skills and humour gave us wonderful workshops and then introduced us to the Legacy Makers (a Nottingham community history group) and the sculptor, Rachel Carter. In only 5 weeks, we danced with new partners from the Caribbean, shared our stories and histories and began to understand the thinking behind this unique project. What a roller-coaster from then on! By week three, the Stitchers were already making our costumes.
I enjoy meeting new people and new experiences. There were so many strands to this Project as it grew and drew in poets, artists, braiders, photographers, video makers, writers, historians and foundry workers. I began to realise after the first whirlwind year both the important impact the statue could have and also the mountain we still had to climb to raise the funding. Staying involved in my case owed much to Rachel and the Legacy Makers. in particular my dancing partner. When explaining my involvement, I found that ‘ Challenge the 5%’ became a rallying call I felt proud to be associated with.
It was ‘spreading the word’ to other women which brought me in contact with Soroptimist International of Nottingham. I count myself very fortunate to have found and joined this organisation which is both international and local with a longstanding commitment to women and girls.
Since becoming a member I have valued the friendship, determined efficiency, caring and positivity of the club’s members. Finally, I salute their generosity and support of all kinds from members coming to talks , films, celebrations and exhibitions over the 3 years, to donations and an invitation to the sculptor to speak to our organisation.
Orange cafe
We held a very successful Orange Cafe on Tuesday, 24th September at St Peter’s Church Cafe, near Marks and Spencer’s. Four of our members chatted to over 40 people to explain what we do as Soroptimists and what the ‘Orange the World’ campaign is all about. Watch out for news of our next event when we welcome you to come and say ‘Hi’ and find out who we are and why we’re ‘Standing up for women’
Here are Karen and Margaret greeting members of the public
Our walk in Rushcliffe Country Park
On Wednesday, 14th August we were joined by family and friends for a lovely walk around Rushcliffe Country Park followed by a picnic. A chance to come together during our summer break
Standing in this place – Club member Judy was one of the models!
Plans have been unveiled for a statue highlighting the historical connection between women who worked in East Midlands cotton mills and those who grew the plant as slaves in the US.
The aim is for the sculpture to be installed as part of the regeneration of Nottingham’s Broadmarsh area, once home to textile and dye works.
Its creators say it will portray themes of sorrow, strength and resilience.
The plans were unveiled at an exhibition in Derby.
The life-size, bronze statue – called Standing In This Place – is set to be placed in the Broadmarsh area in summer 2024.
It shows an enslaved black woman clasping hands with a white mill worker.
The statue is being created by sculptor Rachel Carter and the Legacy Makers community group, which works to highlight the links the 18th and 19th Century East Midlands cotton industry had with slavery.
