About

BIOGRAPHY
Rachel Crockett Smith, an Arizona native, is an abstract artist whose work is informed by color. She has exhibited in museums and galleries primarily on the East Coast and in the Mountain West.

Rachel received a BFA in Painting and Drawing at Brigham Young University in 2007. She discovered her passion for teaching art to children while artist-in-residence at the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum, where she first taught art workshops in 2018. Since then, she has continued working as a teaching artist, and for the past year as Education Manager for the Shenandoah Arts Council. In 2022, Rachel was awarded the Innovate + Create Grant by Teaching Artists of the Mid-Atlantic. She lives in Winchester, Virginia with her husband, four daughters, and two dogs.

ARTIST STATEMENT
I believe that art has the power to capture and evoke the emotions of life’s most ordinary and profound moments. As an artist, I often draw inspiration from my life as a mother, and the day-to-day moments, obstacles, and chaos that I encounter. I believe moments are always filled with meaning when we look for it. The creative process helps me understand moments in life—both positive and negative—and how those experiences work together for good.

I primarily work in oil paints on wood panels. My paintings stem from an idea or experience and develop organically as I work, rather than being strictly planned from the beginning. I use various tools to apply the paint, including brushes, painting knives, squeegees, plexiglass plates, and stencils. My work is abstract in style, allowing viewers to acquaint themselves with the work through the lens of their own experiences. The titles are an integral part of the works themselves and are not meant to prescribe a specific interpretation, rather suggest a meaning which the viewer may wish to explore.