Bio
Rachel’s painting practice centres around the ebb and flow of relationships and how energy and feeling can be visually expressed. It is lens or focus through which to explore the notion of presence and how we navigate our world finding moments to contemplate and imagine.
Much of her work is influenced by photography and the written word. She investigates both analogue and digital photography to aid in shaping both the composition and colour palettes of each painting.
Often, she will take a walk with her camera and capture light between spaces or between people and bring these elements into the final piece in an abstract way.
As painter Georgia O’Keefe once expressed;
"I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for."
Each work is created in an intuitive way, from initial sketchbook drawings to photographs taken and is minimally created using a small palette of colours in order to fully hone the essence of the feeling or presence she wishes to convey.
Having trained initially in three dimensional design before moving into fine art though her MA at Leeds Arts University, she infuses design elements and principles into the composition of her paintings and is fascinated by how spaces and relationships can make us feel. Her research also covers sound and perception and how silence and presence are essential for our connection to a greater lifeforce.
She works from her studio in Leeds and her work is held in private collections around the world.
Contact Rachel here…
Exhibitions & Residencies
2024
East Street Arts - Leeds | Six Months Studio Practice Residency funded by Leeds Arts University Alumni
2023
Makers Fair | Manor House | Yorkshire
2021
Garden of Lost & Found | Soundscape | Left Bank Leeds | UK
2020
Test Transmissions | Falling Piano Notes- Soundscape piece for Blackford Hill Audio special bandcamp release, UK
2019-2020
Dawn Chorus | SoundScape Recording | National Trust Beningbrough Hall, UK
2019
Sound of Land | Yorkshire Sculpture Park | UK | Immersive Sound walk
2018
Sounds of Winter | Beningbrough Hall, York, UK
In Conversation | RK Burt Gallery, London, UK
ReMastered | Colours May Vary Gallery, Leeds, UK
Movement | Left Bank Art Prize (Selected), Leeds, UK
2017
Nocturne | Sound Installation | National Trust, Beningbrough Hall, York, UK
Nightwatch | (RE((SOUND)) exhibition. A two channel sound installation | Leeds Arts University, UK
‘Is this Ok?’ | Wharf Chambers, Leeds, UK
‘Approaching Nocturne’ | Studio 24, Leeds, UK
Stranieri | Residency at Casa deli Artisti | Trentino, Italy
Fragile Sounds | Heart Gallery, Leeds, UK
2016
Sea Forms | Women Art Food | The Leeds Gallery, UK
2015
Huia & Auk | The Forge, Camden, Ghosts of Gone Birds – Live Art Studio, London, UK
Member of the Professional Artist Institute