Loyal to Local: Rebecca Campbell Art
The Riverside Arts Market (RAM), now in its 14th year, is a weekly makers and farmers market hosted by Riverside Avondale Preservation (RAP) on Saturdays, from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., rain or shine. Each week more than 100 small business owners gather under the canopy of the Fuller Warren Bridge to sell their products to the local community. Keep reading to learn more about some of the incredible vendors that make RAM a must-visit part of every Saturday.
Rebecca Campbell believes that she’s on this planet for her children and to create. For her, nature is her muse, spirituality, and source of joy. Watching her two young children “grow like flowers is what has given my life purpose.” But as a breast cancer survivor and having lost both of her parents before the age of 30, nature has also reminded her of the preciousness of time, creating an extra urgency to create.
Coming from a long line of creatives, Rebecca says both her “free-spirited parents” actively encouraged her to express herself through art and writing. Even then, nature was always incorporated somehow in her work.
“I grew up in the country, and there was not much to do but wander the woods and find entertainment from what was surrounding me. I would draw in the sand, write short stories, and illustrate them.”
It wasn’t until college that she had the opportunity to work with what has now become her primary medium, clay, while receiving her art degree from the University of Florida.
Once she found clay, Rebecca was able to take natural inspiration and create works that is connected to the living things around it. With sculptures of humans, plants, and animals, a common goal of Rebecca’s works is to “make the sculptures come alive.”
Of all her works, one that stands out as the most meaningful is the installation she created for her senior thesis project in college. Her father had recently died of cirrhosis of the liver following a relapse after ten years of sobriety. To show the concept of addiction and its ability to consume a life, she created ceramic life-size human heads with some gasping for air and being pulled into the ground.
While some of her earlier pieces tended to have dark undertones, Rebecca says that she has seen enough tragedy in this world. Instead, she has decided to focus on “natural beauty that surrounds me,” to inspire her work.
If you’d like to know more about Rebecca, she has been actively highlighting her journey as an artist on Instagram since 2013. She has also shared some of her breast cancer diagnosis journey on her page, which she is happy to report is currently “no evidence of disease.” You can also find her on Saturdays at the Riverside Arts Market or on Etsy.
Are you interested in becoming a RAM maker in 2023? While applications are still open to the public the market is quickly reaching capacity. Please visit the Applications tab on RAM’s website for access to the application. Before applying please note that the market is at capacity for and therefore not accepting applications for: ceramics/pottery, clothes, jewelry, soap/body products, candles, cut flowers, macrame, and all food items. If this includes you and you’d still like to share your products with the markets, please fill out the Future Vendor Interest Form.
By Elena Curtis
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