Rachel Collier
Spotlight
An online initiative featuring our favorite artists alongside a small collection of their works.
curated by and available through Skye Gallery.
Rachel Collier in her studio, 2023. Photo by Autumn Garrington.
THE Work of Rachel Collier
“My paintings and textile works are ecstatic visual analogues of spaces that I believe populate our shared consciousness. The forms I repeat are familiar in a way that anchors my psyche to a sense of place. In creating space via non-representation, I hint at worlds that are unknowable and indefinite. In creating models of these worlds, I turn to the visual language of maps, topography, insets, picture-in-picture, scale and materiality, and radiant color to stir the spirit in preparation for advancement or departure.” — Rachel Collier
Rachel Collier, Constant static, 2022.
SKYE GALLERY (SG): Tell us about your artistic journey. Why and how did you become an Artist?
RACHEL COLLIER (RC): I am the fourth generation female painter in a matriarchal lineage beginning with my great grandmother and namesake. We both studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with one hundred years between us. My first loves were movie theaters and skating rinks and eventually I’ll make a film about being a competitive figure skater. After art school I had a string of job titles; wedding videographer, reality tv casting producer, software quality assurance engineer, digital analyst, the list goes on. All the while I was painting, drawing comics on clothes, playing music with friends, making music videos and hosting craft nights. In 2019 I started making art full time and finally feel like I’m taking the right kind of risks.
SG: What inspires you to start creating?
RC: When I’m thinking about what to make, it's a lot about what other people have already made or have yet to make and how I can add to either conversation. I’ve always been an extrovert and after years of painting alone in my studio I’ve discovered a sense of social connectedness out of necessity. I’ve come to know the feeling of a metaphysical place where other people are painting and I can tap into what they know. Neo Rauch said, ‘A painting should be more intelligent than the person who makes it.’ There is no way to be smarter than you are without getting woo woo so I’ve just been letting her rip.
Photo by Autumn Garrington.
SG: Tell us about these particular works and how they came into being.
RC: I have been gravitating toward fiber art for a few years now. Experimenting with tufting and felting is an extension of my painting practice, something I’ve been able to take on the road while living in artist residencies. From November of 2021 till January of 2023 I lived and worked away from home as an artist in residence across the US and Italy. I fully developed my needle felting process from the studios at Anderson Ranch in Snowmass Village. I was first exposed to needle felting in a craft setting many years before and came to realize it was a material that could bridge both painting and fiber mechanics.
SG: What are you working on now?
RC: I’m working on deepening my understanding of the modernist grid as a system for organizing emotions and realities. Hopefully this leads to new ways of disrupting the infinite scroll and feedback loop of technology. I’m looking for materials that say “it is what it is and couldn’t be anything else” and combining it with subject matter that says “it could be anything and everything.” I’m also working on spinning yarn and crocheting sweaters.
SG: How do you stay motivated in your studio?
RC: I keep a giant bag of my favorite chocolate and fancy drinks in the fridge. Also I need deadlines to really get to work. I’m always trying to get people to come visit me and taking a lot of facetime breaks to talk to other painters I know who are also working alone in their studio. We keep each other going through all the rejection and celebrate our wins together.
Photo by Autumn Garrington.
SG: What's your favorite morning routine, night routine or pre-art making routine?
RC: My favorite day is Thursday when I spend the morning with my amazing therapist who helps to keep ‘my head in service to my heart.’ Then I stop at my favorite coop on the way to my studio for a delicious snack.
SG: What's your favorite food?
RC: Adding cream or butter makes any food my favorite. My current favorite ice cream is Van Leeuwen brown sugar chunk with cookie dough, brownies and walnuts.
SG: Early Bird or Night Owl?
RC: Night owl when I’m applying to art things at the last minute, which is every time. Early bird when I’m making something good and want to get to the studio.
View the Collection
About the Artist
Rachel Collier is an interdisciplinary artist whose work focuses on the release of internal visual language held in the emotional body resulting in imagery that is radically uplifting, riding the line between the mysterious and the familiar. Her materials are activated by a meditative and repetitive process rooted in non-representational painterly tradition.
Rachel Collier has her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and recent solo shows include HAIR+NAILS Gallery (Minneapolis, MN), the Nemeth Art Center (Park Rapids, MN), Saint Kate’s Arts Hotel (Milwaukee, WI). Recent group shows include: Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY) and Rochester Art Center (Rochester, MN). Residencies: The Wassaic Project, Wassaic NY (2021, 2022); Anderson Center Jerome Emerging Artist Residency and Fellowship, Red Wing MN (2022); Nido invitational residency and exhibition, Monte Castello di Vibio, Umbria, Italy (2022); and Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO (2022).
Past Exhibitions:
Intersect Aspen
August 1 - 4, 2023