Rachel Meginnes is an Artist and Coach living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.*
Photo by Mercedes Jelinek
*The place where I live, make art, and help others is loved and nurtured by the Cherokee people of the past, present, and future. This land was violently stolen from their primary care and yet they rise, caring for it still. In my love for this place is the acknowledgement of the genocide that took place here against the Cherokee people.
About my path
Finding the compass.
When I was a kid, riding in the backseat of the car, I’d note landmarks, turns, and various ways we were getting somewhere. I’d chart routes, explore how they connected, and assess the benefits to choosing each path. I always knew how to get home. And this clear sense made me open and excited to explore new directions and make off-the-beaten-path discoveries.
I now apply these navigational skills to the work I do as an artist and a coach. Swap out home for purpose, twists for challenges, and turns for opportunities and you begin to see how my navigational skills translate into the work I do in the studio as well as in my work guiding humans towards inner exploration, beneficial growth and the realization of deep purpose.
Unfolding the map, tracing my past.
I received my BA in Art from Earlham College in 1999 and my MFA in Fibers from the University of Washington, Seattle in 2005, spending two years studying traditional Japanese textile processes in Morioka, Japan. From 2005 – 2011, I co-owned and operated an international rug company based out of Sikkim, India and Seattle, WA. In 2012, I was awarded a three-year residency at Penland School of Craft that shifted my home base to North Carolina. My artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be found in the collections of the United States Art in Embassies Program in Amman, Jordan, the University of Arkansas, the Cameron Art Museum, and more.
I have taught all ages and levels from underserved youth in after-school programs to incarcerated individuals in prison to college students and adults in the midst of choosing and changing their careers. My workshops and classes have been offered at craft schools and colleges across the United States and in Canada. I developed a semester-based arts educational partnership program between Earlham College and Penland School of Craft to promote craft education within the context of academic art. I have worked as a mentor and administrator for Penland School of Craft’s three-year Resident Artist program, Core Fellow program, Winter Residency program and helped to develop a Resident Artist program in Kinston, NC for SMART Kinston.
I received training from the Mindfulness Coaching School in Santa Fe, NM and am an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credentialed through the International Coaching Federation.
Charting new directions.
https://www.zakfoster.com/seamside/rachel-meginnes
https://ncartmuseum.org/exhibition/break-the-mold-new-takes-on-traditional-art-making/