Rachael Speirs is an award-winning fine artist, living and working in Toronto. Using paper, fabric, sewing, hand stitching, gouache, watercolour, acrylic, embroidery and other objects, she creates unique, moody, narrative mixed media textile art that is full of atmosphere and evokes a dreamy, fairytale-like memory. 

As a child, Rachael stole scraps of fabric from her mother’s sewing, filling her spare time with making and creating. She would submerge herself into nature or a piece of music, allowing her imagination to run wild. Self-taught, Rachael looked to her childhood picture books and her grandmother’s embroidery work for inspiration and to practice her skill as an artist. As an adult, art never left her. Rachael’s creative inspirations include Carson Ellis, Kate Bush, Shary Boyle, Frida Khalo, Amy Cutler and David Blackwood. Her education and professional background in social work is reflected in the humanitarian elements of her work. Rachael’s pieces will forever showcase her need to share a human experience and to connect with the viewer. 

Rachael was the 2021 recipient of the Craft Ontario Helen Frances Gregor award for textile art, and the Ontario Arts Council's Emerging Artist Project Grant.