A short film about my studio practice and life where I live.
About
R[a]ochelle: My legal and birth name is Rachelle with an ‘a’, but I have chosen to live the remainder of my life as Rochelle with an ‘o’. It may seem inconsequential to some, but the shift is this: רָחֵל is a Hebrew name meaning “ewe.” It’s the Talmudic name of a great matriarch, Rachel, wife of Jacob. Catholics have traditionally taken names from the Hebrew Bible, and Rachel is one of those names.
My birth religion came to my ancestors through the Roman Empire, which survives today through the Catholic Church. To reclaim my animistic, ecological, and cultural roots, I go by ‘Rochelle,’ French for “little rock.”
Rochelle Chinnery is a mixed media artist living on Hornby Island, BC. Her interests lie in the phenomenology of craft and the way ecological identity can be cultivated through craft practice.
Writing
Idioms of an Ecological Self, by Rachelle M. Chinnery, M.A.
“Significant Material: Ceramics of British Columbia 1945 – 1960,” A Modern Life: Art and Design in British Columbia, 1945 -1960, ed. Alan Elder, Vancouver Art Gallery, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2004.
Ritual
Rochelle Chinnery 