We recently connected with Rachel Taft and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

As soon as I could pick up a pencil or crayon, I remember I was drawing. When my parents wanted to keep us children entertained, my sister got a book, my brother had his game boy, and I had a legal pad with a pencil. With that being said, I now consider myself a self-taught artist. I’ve taken a few art classes here and there, mostly in middle school and then in college I loved my interior design drafting/rendering class, but I don’t have a traditional art school background. I would have loved to go to art school, do not get me wrong, it was a dream of mine when I was younger. However, I come from a low-income family and art school was so beyond out of the question. In 2008, my family lost our house due to the real estate crisis, and unfortunately from that moment on, when I was only 12 years old, I thought I said good bye to art forever. I was told constantly how art would never pay my bills and I had no family money to lean back on for support. I had support for art being a hobby but not a career, but who has time for hobbies when you’re struggling to put food on the table and clothes on your back. I finally found my way back to art when I was 23 years old, and knowing what I know now, I wish that I had someone who told younger me that I could be more and do more with my time, energy and passion. Due to that, my biggest hurdle has always been myself. For a long time I had such a fear to create anything. I put all this weird pressure on myself and never let it just flow through me. Then when I finally did sit down to create but it got hard, or things didn’t go as planned, I would give up and not pick that project back up for months. I still struggle with getting out of my own head and way, but the thing that helps the most is discipline. There’s a concept taught through many different philosophies and religions in that “there’s freedom within the discipline”. I grew up with a very negative connotation of discipline, but once I understood it’s simply about showing up for your craft everyday. It’s about making the time to do a little something, and that is honestly an act of self-love. Something I’ve struggled with and I think many others do too. I choose to show up for myself in the most genuine way possible, which is art for me. I simply love it and it is my soul.

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

By day, I work as an art restoration technician. This means that I restore art that has been damaged by age, house fires, flooded basements, etc. Though I don’t get to create my art for my full time job as of yet, I really do love bringing art back to life that people thought was once lost. The art that comes into the shop is a lot of grandma’s paintings and other sentimental objects, and I’ve had people break into tears when they see it restored back to its formal glory. This has taught me a valuable lessen where art is not about the price tag, but it an expression of love and fond memories; sentiment is supercilious to monetary value. Before I was doing this though, I was working front desk at the neurology department at a hospital and hating my life. Working within the healthcare system and seeing how our healthcare truly screws over the people who need help the most, and I was the face of the system…. It was a dark place. But I kept a notification set up on my phone so that if any art jobs became available I would know. This one did, and before I knew it I had beaten out over 50 applicants, for a job I did not believe I was worthy of.
I tell this story to demonstrate one of the main beliefs I have for myself and for my brand as an artist: anyone can create and your potential goes way further than you give yourself credit for.
I did not consider myself an artist for over 10 years of my life. When I finally stopped listening to my negative version of my inner voice, within 3 years I was blessed with a 9-5 within the art field. I also have been commissioned for two huge murals in locally owned restaurants. I have made cover arts for Denver music artists. I’ve discovered a niche in painting wine bottles and have gained commissions from that (go onto my instagram to see a sick Viking bottle I made). I’ve also been invited to apply for multiple art competitions, and I have a dedicated art studio room in my house where I plan to grow my art business to one day be my main source of income, in sha’Allah.

In the past three years, I have discovered I am an illustration painter. When I was young, I was FASCINATED with the different styles of illustration that children’s books would use. I would sit there and just mimic their styles. Then, I discovered acrylic paint in high school and I took my knowledge of quirky illustration and combined it with an expansive creativity with colors.
My style is conceptual representational with a heavy influence of cartoon stylization. The process I ascribe to is I have a vague idea at the start and I let it the art lead where it wants to go. When I worked with my mural clients, the first one I planned out strategically with the owner. Then the second one, she gave me a general direction, I said “ok let me do my thing”. I free handed a plethora of flowers. She was willing to trust the process with me and the end result was a beautiful surprise that brought her to tears.
I’m proud of how far I’ve come in a short amount of time. If I had everything taken away, I would still look back at this period in my life and remember how hard it was but how amazing it felt to believe in myself again and to remember that I was born to be an artist; lack of an art degree won’t change that.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I’ll keep it simple; I had to unlearn betting on the system. The system that teaches my path to success is working these minimum wage jobs and one day I would “climb the ladder”, all the while trying to pay rent, pay off loans, students loans, credit cards, then god forbid something happen to my car…. Staying on this path leads to frustration and depression because it is the rat race where there are no winners. I learned that I am way better off betting on myself and the natural talent I possess. Art is my escape and my chance to do more than what I have been indoctrinated to believe that I am capable of. Art is for the bold, the confident, the broken, the brave, and the lost. It meets you wherever you are. All you have to do is quiet your mind when it becomes overwhelming, listen to you body intelligence, and simply just physically create. To be honest, I still struggle with this concept and for sure have my rough days filled with self doubt, but those are the days I’m learning to lean into my art the most.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

The book I found the most profound in my recent years is not your typical management / business book. It is a book called “Women Who Run with Wolves” by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés. This book showed me how to think about art and the endless possibilities of where I could go in the art world, but it takes a different perspective by starting at the root of the question; where does women’s essential power stem from? She speaks through the lenses of numerous cultures and how women are viewed, treasured, revered, as well as where common misinterpretations come from. It’s hard to describe in detail so I would HIGHLY recommend that everyone read it, but essentially in this book one of the main points she goes into is the relationship between women and art, in that art is a creation from life (humans) and women literally create that life. Therefore, the catalyst for art in all its beauty is women. That’s really fucking powerful when you internalize that fact. This has significantly impacted the way I view the world, my place in it, and the art I desire to create. When I’m able to share that art, it is a blessing and I am honored, but I learned from this book that I create my art from the power of pure expression of my mind, my body, and my soul. Whether it is viewed or not is out of my hands.      

Contact Info:

• Website: theeearts.com
• Instagram: @the.emic.etic.arts

Image Credits
Peyton Palermo took flower mural photos