Rope artist takes inspiration from life aboard a barge for her stunning designs

Having no previous experience it was literally all hands on deck – with a little help from family and friends.

For Rebecca it was a life changing experience, not least because the tranquil surroundings of the canal, and the wildlife that lives within or around it, brought a new dimension to her creativity.

“My dad has always been into art. He used to have a gallery at the Docks and I used to draw and skate around the gallery,” says Rebecca, recalling her early life growing up in Liverpool. Picking up a paintbrush during those formative years introduced Rebecca to an interest she has pursued throughout her life.

“My mum was a collector and recycled things. Our house was like a museum,” says Rebecca, referring to their family home before they moved afloat. “It was three storeys and we had a fishing net weaving down the stairs – it was full of character and mum started to let me paint in the hallway so I painted murals.”

Recycling, passed on from her mum, along with her natural draw to nature has continued throughout the floating home Rebecca now shares with her 18-year-old daughter, Erin, an art student at Leeds College.

Suspended around the cosy cabin of their 57ft wide beam two bedroomed boat, Bella Eva, are traditional fenders and fishing nets Rebecca has re-purposed into hanging artworks.

“It is an extremely old rope and I decided to un-weave it all. It was dusty and the colours started coming through. I spent weeks unravelling it all and decided to weave and made that,” says Rebecca indicating the effective wall hanging above the sofa she created from an old fender rope. Her wire sculptures of some of the wildlife, a beautiful blue Kingfisher and other bird life, she has met on canal walks, add decoration to the sitting room surfaces where the stove brings welcome warmth on a chilly spring day.

“I love wire and I love making my wire birds because I am drawn to nature, especially being on the canal and seeing the Kingfisher and the wildlife.”

Moored along the Leeds and Liverpool canal, the changing seasons and surroundings provide constant inspiration for Rebecca to practice her art. Her fascination with the history of the Leeds and Liverpool canal is literally weaved throughout her work. It was the family’s friendship with David Whyles, a volunteer around Bingley’s iconic Five Rise Locks, that led to her incorporating the history of the canal into her artwork.

“David was an amazing character and he used to collect ropes and things. He was well known up there and he did amazing knots and rope work and I was fascinated with the things he collected.”

Rebecca’s interest in entwining the canal history into her rope work deepened when she began studying for her Fine Art degree at Leeds University. “When I started on my course I was drawn to rope. I live on a boat and I love rope.”

She began experimenting by finger knitting with the rope David had collected and kindly donated to her for her studies.

“He started giving me rope and I started weaving and finger knitting.” The technique evokes fond childhood memories for Rebecca whose grandma taught her to knit. “I like the experience of using your hands and ropes on the canal.”

Magnet fishing from her small rowing boat, Rebecca collected items to incorporate into her degree pieces.

‘Floating through time’ features two old fishing boxes. In the compartments, previously used for storing fishing hooks, Rebecca has arranged her canal finds, among them small metal cogs and canal-related components – a windlass for opening locks – and a horse shoe she painted blue. Another box bears a pair of rusty scissors and a small wooden wheel which Rebecca has dressed with a metal spool of twine, wool and sacking reflecting the canal’s coal and textile carrying heritage. “It is a reminder of the textile world,” she says.

‘Glimmer of Hope’ – a collection of some of her earlier degree work – focuses on the environment. A hare sculpted from plastic bags profiles the impact waste is having on wildlife and the world. “It is 100 per cent recycled materials representing the layers of the earth and how we are destroying them.”

The Old Life Ring is reminiscent of the horsepower that originally pulled the boats along before the introduction of steam and diesel engines. “I was given a massive bag of coloured ropes and it reminded me of horse tails when they used to pull the boats,” explains Rebecca.

Some of her pieces were showcased in her degree exhibition along with the hanging rope installations. Formed into the appearance of water droplets, the ropes were suspended to enable viewers to walk around them. Rebecca’s work, and its canal connections, captured the attention of her audience and led to the invitation for some of her pieces to be showcased in The White Space in London.

“I received lots of lovely feedback – that was amazing,” says Rebecca. In October 2022 her work also appeared in ‘A Place of Sense’ exhibition at Aire Place Studios in Leeds.

Lino prints capturing local landmarks, the World Heritage site of Saltaire among them, and photography complete Rebecca’s art collections which she showcases on her website. Her latest art work is a combination of rope and fishing net which she has christened ‘Wind and Tide.’

“David was always saying ‘watch out for wind and tide’ so I have called it after him, in his memory.”

Rebecca’s introduction to the Leeds and Liverpool canal came through the family’s first floating abode. The once thriving thoroughfare for coal and textile transportation was familiar territory for the coal barge which became their home.

“We nearly moved into a windmill but mum went to see a massive old coal barge. It had carried coal up and down the Leeds and Liverpool canal but there was nothing on her other than an Aga.”

However, mum and daughter were impressed by the potential of their alternative home on the Rochdale Canal. Unfazed by their lack of boating experience, they embraced the challenge and soon settled into life on water eventually moving to Castlefield where Rebecca completed her final year of school.

“We had to be towed because the boat had no engine. But we had family and friends who came over and would give us a hand. It was always an adventure. As the months went on I remember thinking ‘I love this’ and mum bought me a rowing boat and I would row up and down.”

Having her own boat also gave Rebecca her own space as she grew up and when, in the interim years, she moved back to bricks and mortar she yearned to be back on the water. “I went off to the Highlands of Scotland for a while, but I yearned to come back to the boat.”

The opportunity came when Rebecca’s mum and her husband, Al, an author whose books Rebecca helps to illustrate, offered her their boat. She lived on it for a year before selling it to buy Bella Eva. “I like the freedom of it. Winter is a bit harder. You have to carry your coal in and there is a bit more faffing around, but spring and summer is amazing,” says Rebecca, who takes inspiration from her surroundings.

“I love being creative and making things out of recycled materials. It is that hands-on thing. It makes me think about life on the canal.”

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