We were lucky to catch up with Rachel Rosenkoetter recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I’ve been making art my entire life but only generating a full-time  living from my creative practice since 2020. Around that time I was  working full-time in the Design department at a quirky sock  company, and struggling to run my small business on the side. I  loved my coworkers but felt really trapped working a 9 to 5 and  putting most of my energy towards projects that I didn’t feel much  creative ownership over. 

In the margins of my time I’d spent 2018-2020 hand-painting 78  tarot card illustrations in the hopes of eventually self-publishing my  own deck. At this point I’d dreamed of striking out and working for  myself for awhile, but felt terrified to make the leap and lose the  security and predictability of my job. Suddenly several events lined  up serendipitously; all within the course of about a month the  Covid-19 pandemic hit, I was laid off at work, and I successfully  funded my Kickstarter to print the First Edition of the Rainbow  Heart Tarot. 

All of a sudden I had no choice but to go “all in” on my business  and my art practice. During those first few chaotic months I threw 

myself into my work and focused on getting the tarot deck printed  and making a plan for my business. The deck ended up a bigger  success than I could have anticipated; the Rainbow Heart Tarot is  currently in its 4th Edition, and I also recently released a travel sized Pocket Edition of the deck. The rest is history! I feel extremely  grateful that things worked out the way they did and that I get to do  what I love for a living.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m an artist, illustrator and designer living in Kansas City, MO. I  hold a BFA in Painting from MSU and an MFA in Visual Studies  from Pacific Northwest College of Art. As an artist I’m fascinated by magick, mysticism, spiritual traditions, and the sorts of imagery  that orbits these systems and states of being. I enjoy working with  an assortment of different materials and tools to explore these  themes; a few of my favorites right now include Posca paint  markers, Procreate, Holbein acrylic gouache, Copic markers and  Adobe Illustrator. 

As a multidisciplinary creator I feel nourished by a variety of  projects including textile design, illustration work, teaching classes  and workshops, product design, painting commissions, making big  goofy textile art, assembling immersive installations, and more.  However, I’m probably best known for the Rainbow Heart Tarot. 

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My creative journey is driven by the desire to *be* the person I wish I’d had at various points in my life and to create the things I want to see in the world. For example, my teaching is propelled by the desire to support and resource others in the ways that I needed along the way on my own artistic journey. The Rainbow Heart Tarot was born out of a longing to create the tarot deck that I wanted to work with but that didn’t yet exist. As an artist I strive to embody and create the magick and beauty I want to see reflected in the world around me.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a creative person is when I’m able to contextualize my life as one big ongoing immersive interactive art project! When I approach my reality with this attitude, suddenly everything has the potential to become an act of self expression whether that’s cooking, getting dressed, or just planning out my day. To me being an artist means being engaged in a creative dance with life, finding ways to alchemize challenges and mistakes into something beautiful, and recognizing opportunities to play and collaborate.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.RachelRosenkoetter.com, www.RainbowHeartTarot.com
• Instagram: @RachelRosenkoetter, @RainbowHeartTarot

Image Credits
Mario Gallucci (portrait photographer)