THE arts and crafts of India are the inspiration for Rachel Stainsby's new show at Kennedy's Caf Bar, in Little Stonegate, York.

Symbols and patterns and the application of a rich array of colours inform Rachel's artwork in Indian Summer - Exhibition Of Pattern and Poetry.

She also uses text in her work. "I found this was a good opportunity to integrate poetry into the paintings, to add an extra dimension to the patterned, colourful images," says Rachel, who works from a studio in the Fishergate Business Centre, York.

"Some of the poems are my own and others are parts from songs. The exhibition is a celebration of colour and words, written and sung, and the effect each of these has on us."

Her paintings are accompanied by photography inspired by Australian film maker Baz Luhrmann and his flamboyant bursts of pop culture, Moulin Rouge and William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.

"The photos pay homage to the films and try to deal with the conceptual loops between art and cinema, so they incorporate costume links as well as sections of text from the plays," says Rachel.

"I also hope to provoke the viewer's cinematic experience of films, personal experiences and emotions evoked from watching the films."

The ten paintings in mixed media on deep-boxed canvas are on display in the first-floor restaurant and conservatory; the six photographs are in the ground-floor foyer.

The exhibition runs until August 1, and works are for sale from £40 upwards.

Updated: 15:29 Thursday, July 15, 2004