Birds of a Feather: Rachel Meginnes

frontdesk8455
Mar 18
1 min read

Updated: Apr 10

Upstairs Artspace is proud to present Birds of a Feather, a group exhibition on view from April 19 through May 29, 2026.

Rachel Meginnes is a textile artist based in Bakersville, North Carolina. She received her BA from Earlham College and her MFA in Fibers from the University of Washington.

Having first learned to weave in high school in rural Vermont, Meginnes later studied textile production in Japan, New Zealand, India, and Nepal. Her work is rooted in her mother and grandmother's rug-hooking tradition, and explores the haptic nature of textiles and their unique ability to embody memory and care.

Meginnes's practice centers on deconstructing and reconstructing discarded textiles — quilts, clothing, and household fabrics—into visual reflections of human emotion and lived experience. Drawing on techniques such as rag weaving and ikat, she cuts textile fragments into strips, transforming and realigning them with the gestural energy of brushstrokes. The resulting constructions are densely layered works that abstract and repurpose their original materials.

Her work is held in the United States Art in Embassies collection in Amman, Jordan, and has been widely exhibited nationwide.

Meginnes lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she first arrived in 2012 for a residency at Penland School of Craft and now lives as part of the region's interdependent community of artists connected by craft.

Socials: @rachelmeginnes

Website: www.rachelmeginnes.com