“If we opened people up, we’d find landscapes”
-Agnes Varda, French filmmaker, artist, and photographer
When words fail, my art speaks for me. I have experienced similar clarity in times of solitude in nature. The Landscape Within illustrates my search for harmony by examining the relationship between the natural world and humanity. The paintings resonate deeply with me because they mirror the science of Ecotherapy, which is the practice of tapping into nature’s power to lower our anxiety, release our need for control, and to help us more peacefully accept change.
Each painting begins in playfulness. The process of “wet on wet,”—applying a fresh layer of paint to the previous layer before it is dry—allows for surprise as everything blends. I become more editorial and introspective as the base layers dry and the piece nears completion. My process is an exercise in letting go and slowing down. It is a delicate balance between encouraging chaos and maintaining artistic authority.
This body of work consists of nature-inspired scenes that express my sensory experience of place while also serving as visual representations of my internal psychology. These paintings have demanded that I pay attention and trust the larger universal balance between the landscape surrounding us and the landscape within us. My hope is that they will ask the viewer to do the same.
Rachel has been painting, with much encouragement from her father, since she was 6 years old and has never really put her paint brushes down. She has been exhibiting nationally for almost ten years and had her museum debut in 2022 for the group exhibition: 18th Regional Juried Exhibition at the Freeport Art Museum curated by Cleveland Dean.
Rachel’s earliest works were highly influenced by her instructor Frankie Johnson. Johnson taught Rachel not only the basics and fundamentals of acrylics and oils but also became a mentor of sorts well into Rachel’s adult years at Mainstreet Art Center.
Rachel’s work took a major shift while studying painting at DePaul University from 2011-2013. It was there that she felt she was given permission to explore painting beyond the constraints of traditional realism. With encouragement from professor and artist Mark Zlotkowski along with the discovery of other renowned artists, namely Gerhard Richter and Robert Rauschenberg, who worked in multiple mediums, she began pushing the limits within her work. In 2024, Rachel was accepted into Ty Nathan Clark’s mentorship program which pushed her to explore working 3 dimensionally. She considers herself a multidisciplinary artist.
Rachel’s work is highly explorative and expressive. She draws a great amount of inspiration from nature, the human condition, emotions, memories and current events. In 2023 Rachel moved from Chicago, to a small beach community in the Indiana Dunes with her partner and has been living and creating work there since. Rachel’s work is currently represented in Lake Zurich, IL.
×
