We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rae Tweed. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rae below.
Alright, Rae thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m Rae Tweed! An artist and brand designer who grew up ephemerally across Illinois, Virginia and Ohio. Outside of my design work I make figurative fine art, both in collage and painted illustrations. I started in the Cleveland scene around 2016, participating in group shows at SPACES, Art forum and Pop Eye Gallery. In 2018 I shifted my creative focus when I began working as the in-house graphic designer for the local Cleveland hospitality company, Spice. Stepping into the design world full time expanded my usage of digital mediums and I went on an unintentional hiatus from traditional art mediums. During the pandemic I picked up and moved to Los Angeles with my partner and continued working in the graphic design space. While I do find that there’s a lot of artistic direction I can bring to branding, being a designer alone proved unfulfilling for me. So in the fall of 2022 I left my full time role to pursue balancing freelance design work with my fine art practice. In the last year I’ve acquired five clients, participated in two gallery shows and I’m currently preparing for a third show.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
When it comes to my fine art practice my mission is to continue express unabashedly. Growing up I felt held back, mostly by manners and expectations of what is appropriate for a young woman. There was a stoicism I was taught and I struggle to shed that stoicism today and speak candidly. In my work I speak candidly about that stoic repression. My collages showcase feminine figures encased and groped by giant hands that appear to be posing them, partially blinding them and at times covering or entering their mouths. My illustrative figures are drawn in contorted poses and bound with literal red thread. The red thread is controlled by their own hands, highlighting an expectation on how one should conduct themselves. There’s a controlling element to expectations and I am focused on shining a spotlight on that control.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Mentioned in my bio, I switched gears from full time design work to freelance design work last year. Coming out the pandemic on a new coast and with a better understanding of myself I realized that career-wise I was pigeon-holing myself back into the role of ‘the good daughter’ through my corporate job. I have not and likely will never be a corporate personality, not that I think there’s anything wrong with those who are, I just know that I’m not. But a part of me felt so at ease in having to be very buttoned up, there was a lot of nostalgia in that kind of stoic performance for me and I recognized that it was unhealthy. So I left my corporate LA office in September of 2022 with a little money saved and no perspective clients – a very big, privileged risk. But by January of 2023 I was working with my first new client, the first of five for this year. I’m now working at a semi-steady pace and back to regularly producing in my fine art practice.
Contact Info:
- Website: rachaelstweed.com
- Instagram: rae_tweed