Originally from Detroit, MI, visual artist Rachael Bohlander lives and works in Washington, D.C. Bohlander is recognized for her layered gestural paintings and for creating a sense of space that extends beyond the canvas. Her artwork spans multiple media, including painting, sculpture, and paper-based works.

Bohlander received an MFA from the New York Studio School, after which she served as Artist in Residence at the school’s post-graduate sculpture residency in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Teaching is central to her practice; she currently serves on the faculty at the Washington Studio School in Washington, D.C., and is an Adjunct Professor in the Visual Arts Administration MA program at New York University. Committed to increasing public access to art and art education, her work with Sculpture Forum and the Jonathan and Barbara Silver Foundation includes directing and editing video conversations between critics and artists, which are offered free to the public online. Bohlander is a member of the Editorial Board at Sculpture Forum.

A three-time recipient of the Arts & Humanities Fellowship Program Grant through the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Bohlander has work in the Washington D.C. Department of General Services public collection. Her artwork has been featured in solo and group shows across D.C., New York, Miami, and Seattle, and can be found in private collections throughout the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, Bohlander has completed murals and public projects in Denver, Apex, Brooklyn, and Washington, D.C.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

I'm drawn to the way we experience space. I want my artwork to feel as if it is a field you can enter and inhabit, rather than something we can only observe from the outside looking in.

The gestural marks continue beyond the canvas frame, creating a sense that there something happening beyond the confines of the canvas even if you can't see it. I want you to feel the space, the energy, and the painting as a whole.

I work in layers, with varied viscosities of paint and other mediums
accumulating over time. The marks hover, drift, rotate, or press forward, creating a sense of motion. Whether in color or gray scale, the compositions work on the senses the way memory does: partially, selectively, and sometimes with unexpected force.

The Washington Color School provides inspiration and guidance. My studio practice and approach to my work remains grounded in and in conversation with that tradition, even I search for new ways to expand upon it and create something new.