Rachel Gracey (b.1968)

Following studies in Fine Art in Bristol, Rachel studied printmaking at Wimbledon College of Art absorbed by the process and power of the print medium.  From 1995-2007 she was a member of the avant garde Artichoke Print Workshop in London. The artist uses her mastery of lithography in particular to explore the energy and rhythms of the physical and of the natural world.   Her ability to layer colour gives striking sculptural presence to the flat print making vivid compositional use of the unmarked paper surface to suggest three dimensional form. She was an award winner at the 2022 Fen Ditton Gallery Printmaking Prize and was elected RE by the Royal Society of Printmakers in 2019.  Works are in the collectionof the Ashmolean, Oxford; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; British Museum; The Royal Collection.

Seeds of Flourishing is one of a series of large prints reflecting on my daughters as they become adults and prepare to move one.   Using the language of line and pattern, I have tried to represent the growth, freedom and optimism for the future.  The small works came from an invited residency at Chelsea Physic Garden