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RACHEL

Tell me about your work as an artist?

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Rachel: My work is focused on how various abstract forms or characters that I’ve created interact with one another. My paintings often resemble some kind of ambiguous enclosure, structure, or interior space in which biomorphic and architectural forms interact and coexist in this fabricated landscape. These bodily structures attempt to serve a particular function- often protecting, covering, and/or supporting each other.

 

What are you trying to FEED your viewers? (What do you want viewers to get from your work?)

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Rachel: It’s more of a game of chess with myself- analyzing and thinking about what needs to be done next for my paintings to be visually challenging while still meeting the criteria that I set for them. My paintings are really about having these kinds of symbiotic relationships between varying forms that all serve a function in relation to one another, and I hope that people can get a sense of that.

What do you EAT? (What influences you as an artist)

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Rachel: I think everything I see influences me as an artist. A lot of structural forms, such as architecture, the immune system, my interactions with other people and my memories. Other artists such as Paul Kremer, Robert Mangold, Robert Motherwell, Guy Yanai, Matthew Tucker, and Brancusi.


 

When did you decide you wanted to be an artist?

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Rachel: I was in my sophomore year of college studying biology, and I was studying like crazy for organic chemistry, and I hated it. I took a break to work on a portrait that was commissioned by a close friend. I remember while I was working on it, I felt this overwhelming sense of peace. I changed my major to studio art the next week. I had been drawing my whole life, but I never really considered it as a career. But as soon as I started to think of art seriously, I’ve never looked back.

 

Can you tell us what you are working on currently?

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Rachel: Right now, I’m working on two medium-sized paintings while most of my current body of work is in a solo show in downtown Winston-Salem. I’ve also been working a lot on my own side project, Reciprocal art magazine, while also working at GreenHill in downtown Greensboro as the Curatorial Assistant.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

 

Rachel: Hopefully working in the studio full time, while also working on my magazine. I’d also love to teach studio art at the university level.



 

What would you say to the kid in the classroom or at home who is being told that they can’t make money from being an artist?

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Rachel: I would tell them that anything is possible, and if they want it, they can have it. But I would also tell them that there are things in life that are more important than money, and certain things are rewarding regardless of the income you earn from them. Money doesn’t equate importance.

 

What should we do as artists to make sure that our craft is taken seriously?

 

Rachel: I think the most important thing is to take yourself seriously, and take your practice seriously. Being an artist isn’t always fun or enjoyable. It is a discipline, and it can be hard work. Remember that good things take time, and keep going.

Barrier (acrylic on canvas, 2017) by Rachel 
Barrier 2 (acrylic on canvas, 2017) by Rachel
Enclosure 11 (acrylic on canvas, 2017) by Rachel 
Enclosure 12 (acrylic on canvas, 2017) by Rachel
Enclosure 13 (acrylic on canvas, 2017) by Rachel

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