My newest art crush is Texas-based painter and printmaker Rachael Marie Bower.
I have actually known Rachael for several years, and while her work has changed dramatically since her grad school days, I still find it utterly charming and relatable. So much of Rachael's work is ultra-personal, and yet it's hard not to find it speaking to your own life with her themes of love, loss, and home.
"Currently, the hot weather and our blooming garden is inspiring me. I've also recently discovered neon paints, and have been using them as glazes. My color palette has grown more and more saturated with each new project."
"Currently, the hot weather and our blooming garden is inspiring me. I've also recently discovered neon paints, and have been using them as glazes. My color palette has grown more and more saturated with each new project."
Housewarming by Rachael Bower, 2014
We Go Down Together, ed. of 30, 2011
"I
began using birds during the creation of my BFA work at Ohio University
in 2005. I started to use chickadees (common where I lived) as symbols
for marking time, each represented a year in the life of my Grandmother
and were sewn into my large monoprints. I came back to them again in
2010 during an artist residency in Italy. My studio was surrounded by
birds, and they made their way into my drawings, this time in narratives
about love, longing and distance. They're been a constant presence in
my art ever since."
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Paper Roses (His&Hers) by Rachael Bower, 2014
Dream Garden by Rachael Bower, 2014
Don't you just want to pluck up a few of those cacti and take them home with you? I am loving the color!
"Fish also appear in my work every so often, first
appearing in my collages as careful cutouts from old books on aquariums
and marine life.
Noted from an Ordinary Day by Rachael Bower, 2008
An earlier work, above, is a bit more raw, and yet the thread and the stitching is so delicate
that I could stare at it for hours.
I actually have one of Rachael's small "Sweet Tart" pieces, a collage series she started a few years ago. My husband gave it to me for our first Valentine's Day and it hangs in my studio.
In the Air by Rachael Bower (Madeline), 2011
"I relocated to Texas two years ago and have been teaching painting classes in the city, both community and college courses. The energy of the painting students inspired me to go back to painting in my own studio. I still consider myself a printmaker first and foremost. My love of repetitive mark making, so common in the print process, appears in my drawings and paintings. If I'm not editioning, I'm finding some way to do the same thing over and over and over, hence the wallpaper patterns and repeated garden images."
that I could stare at it for hours.
I actually have one of Rachael's small "Sweet Tart" pieces, a collage series she started a few years ago. My husband gave it to me for our first Valentine's Day and it hangs in my studio.
"I relocated to Texas two years ago and have been teaching painting classes in the city, both community and college courses. The energy of the painting students inspired me to go back to painting in my own studio. I still consider myself a printmaker first and foremost. My love of repetitive mark making, so common in the print process, appears in my drawings and paintings. If I'm not editioning, I'm finding some way to do the same thing over and over and over, hence the wallpaper patterns and repeated garden images."
Welcome Home, screenprint completed this summer at Frogman's Print and Paper Workshop, 2014
"In
July I spent a week at the Frogman's Print and Paper Workshop at the
University of South Dakota. It was nice to be the student for a change
and experiment in the classroom. Being around my printmaking friends
and surrounded by so much creative energy in the classroom reinvigorated
my studio practice. The print I editioned there is part of the
upcoming 'Great Outdoors' show at the Georgetown Art Center in Texas."
Rachael also paints custom pet portraits. It is well-known that I am a cat person, and yet Rachael manages to paint dogs so adorably cute that I kind of want one just to get a portrait made!
Rachael also paints custom pet portraits. It is well-known that I am a cat person, and yet Rachael manages to paint dogs so adorably cute that I kind of want one just to get a portrait made!
custom pet portrait by Rachael Bower
Oh, also she also paints them wearing historical clothing.
For real, these are the most awesome dog portraits I've ever seen. If you're interested in commissioning a custom pet portrait, you can visit her site here.
Scout by Rachael Bower
Besides being a printmaker and painter, Rachael is also teaching art history (Renaissance to contemporary), art appreciation, and painting at Northwest Vista College, as well as drawing and art appreciation
at Our Lady of the Lake University.
If you are interested in seeing her work in person, Rachael's painting You are a Rare Bird is currently on exhibition at the Bihl Haus Arts Center in San Antonio, Texas.
For more on Rachael Marie Bower:
Web: RachaelMadeline.com
Shop: Found Here Studio
Facebook: facebook.com/foundherestudio
Twitter: @foundherestudio
Instagram: @rachaelmariebower
Photos courtesy Rachael Bower
Photos courtesy Rachael Bower
You can find more of my Art Crush series here
Awesome interview Jennifer, I loved seeing Rachael's work evolving through the years! I love how she delicately adds to her art of the reappearing chickadees, paper cranes, tornados, the infamous snake. Just loving the pet portraits too, they are so life like! I also have a few pieces of her work! Thank you again for bringing this Artist, Rachael, and her work to so many people!
ReplyDeleteWonderful interview! I'm so gad to see Rachael's most recent art and the evolving of her work . I do love to see the reappearing of her chickadees, paper cranes, tornados, and her infamous snake and how she so delicately places them within her art! Thank you for bringing this artist, Rachael and her work to so many!! Rodney Ann
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