ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
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RACHEL STIFF
FRAMING THE WEST
Space is what interests me most. Nevada has a lot to offer. From the outskirts of town, where I live, one can examine the composition of Las Vegas and its relationship with surrounding landforms. There are endless variations of color and light, depending on exact location and time of day.
Through painting I frame the modern West; exit ramps serve sunsets to go and mysterious bluffs quietly exhibit the beauty of perspective from the grocery store parking lot. Working intuitively at first, I allow each painting to develop. The partnership between the painting and myself progresses, as does the importance of decision-making. Mistakes, deliberate forms, controlled spills and the culling of positive and negative space are the end result.
Rachel Stiff
Rachel Stiff is a painter, educator and former all-around cowgirl. During the spring of 1986, she was born in Lewistown, Montana. Rachel holds an MFA from the University of Arizona in Tucson (2012) and a BFA from the University of Montana in Missoula (2009). Her work has been shown throughout the West and acquired by the Emmy award winning Traktor Films of Santa Monica, CA. In 2013, Rachel participated in RAID Projects, a three-month long artist residency in downtown Los Angeles. After living and working there for nearly a year, Rachel moved to Nevada. In Las Vegas, her work can be found in the permanent collection at the Marjorie Barrick Museum and was recently shown in a solo exhibition at The Winchester Cultural Center. Identifying as a true Westerner, her work examines the construction of the modern landscape and desert-urban interface through abstraction.
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