ABOUT ME
MY STORYHi! My name is Rachel Lister and I am aGradate from Ara Institute of Canterbury.
I have been studying at Ara since 2020 when the pandemic had just begun, setting the scene for the chaos that would be my time studying at Ara.
Not being able to come in for what felt like a year impacted my experience but it made me stronger as an artist, my ideas developed on their own and in my own space as I figured out how on earth someone can work at home without getting distracted with everything around them.
Before I made it to Ara I went to Cashmere High school where I powered through the loud noisy environment that comes with a class with over thirty people in it and produced work that I am still proud of today.
At Ara, I studied Book Making, figure drawing, and illustration, and at High School, my art subjects were photography and design.
My Art away from Ara
As cheesy as it sounds I have been a figure skater since 2007, and started skating compeitivly in 2014, later going on to represent New Zealand in the Christchurch synchronized skating team on two occasions in, one in the Australian nationals competition and anoother when a skate camp was organised and run in Australia inviting a few kiwi skaters to come and join them.
When I skated in Kia Kaha, the Christchurch synchronised skating team, I created a logo for the team so we could wear it on our shirts and put it on a banner to display when travelling around the country. They wanted something to go with a font they had already picked a few years ago plus a silver fern. This logo was on our shirts when we travelled around the country, on our banner, and we even took it overseas to Australia
Images from Auckland Nationals in 2018
Skating as an Adult Figure Skater
A year before covid hit I was injured in one of the Skating compeitions, it was bad enough that I had to take myself out of skating for a few years to recover from it. I ended up needing to not only recover physically but mentally as I realised I was in a really unhealthy place in the sport and myself as a person. So I focused on my art digree while coaching kids how to skate.
On the last year of my digree I decided to come back to the sport, but this time I was going to have a new coach and have a new outlook on my relationship with the sport, I decided I would only do it for fun and do programs that I wanted to skate to, and travel when I wanted.
Cut to a few years later and I am in a much better place with the sport, and I now have private lessons with my own students and am actively helping them build a healthy relationship with the sport. I do this by getting rid of unsportsmanlike behaviour I see some skaters have towards others, as well as making sure they dont feel bad in their own skin and making sure they rest.
I have also rejoined the synchro team when it started back up and have captained the team through two seasons so far, winning gold at nationals in our first year back as a team, with the new start on Kia Kia I also created a new logo for them and mantain the instagram page where we tell any of our followers what we are doing that season.
During the 2024 season I was nominated for Sportsman of the Year in our community for the help that I have both the Club, the skaters, and everyone around me, all while going through one of the worst years of my life.
What I have done to help the learn to skate community in Christchruch
As a skater, I also welcome the new generation of skaters by teaching them how to skate. From ages of three years old to adults who have decided to pick up skating as a hobby later on in their lives. Through this program I noticed there are many things missing in the community, for example, we use flags when coaching children to help them understand where their groups are on the ice, but the flags that we use to use on the ice were old and outdated, and some low quality and others not making sense, working with the skate school coaching director I redesigned their flags to more child-friendly looking flags that all relate to skating in some way. The idea was to make sure that these kids of all ages would be excited to see them and to reach each level. six out of seven designs encluded.
Changing Centaurus Ice Skating Club Website
https://centaurusiceskatingclub.com/
in 2023 I was asked by the figure skating club in Christchurch to come and help them remake their website. A way that their skaters will be able to navigate it better and use it on their phones, as at the rink skaters will typically only have their phones on them and it’s more accessible when at competitions.
By working with the club I will ensure the website has up-to-date information on it and will not hide things from whoever is using it. When the website is finished I will upload what it looks like and how much the skaters benefit from it.
From there I have given the skaters an instagram page where they are celebrated and are able to have posts of them made if they are travelling for a comp, or see posters on when the next comp is.
