ABOUT

In her work, Rachel Hellmann creates painted objects that blur the distinction between painting and sculpture. Poplar wood is “folded” into accordion like forms that bend and jut out from the wall. Using an intuitive sense of geometry, she paints the sculptures with hardedge, saturated shapes of color. The color in combination with cast shadows creates a playful conversation between real and illusionistic space.

Hellmann is influenced by simple structures such as paper airplanes and origami - objects that are light in physical weight yet command and shape the space that they occupy. The sculptural paintings engage their surroundings in such a way that they seem to teeter between enhancing and defying gravity. The sculptures are painted on all sides and encourage the viewer to bend and move their body to see above and below the piece. This movement becomes an essential aspect of the artwork- connecting the object and viewer in a direct way.

Rachel Hellmann received a BFA from the University of Dayton and an MFA in Painting from Boston University. Her work includes sculpture, painting and installation. She has had solo exhibitions at Elizabeth Houston Gallery, NY, NY, Galleri Urbane, Dallas, TX, Miller Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA, University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor, ME and the Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA. Other exhibition venues include the Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA, Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis, MO, Samson Projects, Boston, MA, Christel DeHaan Fine Art Center, University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN and the Elmhurst Museum of Art, Elmhurst, IL.

Hellmann was the recipient of the Blanche E. Colman Award for Painting and the Constatin Alajalov Award at Boston University. She was also awarded residencies at the Ragdale Foundation in Forest Park, IL, Platte Clove Preserve, Catskills, NY and Playa in Eastern Oregon. She was published in New American Paintings vol 113 and was recently the Edward E. Elson Artist-in-Residence at the Addison Gallery of American Art.

Hellmann was Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at Northern Essex Community College from 2008 until May of 2013 when she relocated to Terre Haute, IN to work full-time as an artist. Before joining faculty at NECC, she taught at Mount Ida College, School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Bunker Hill Community College. She has been a visiting artist at many colleges including: MassArt, Boston, MA; Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Whittier College, Whittier, CA; Ann Arundel Community College, Arnold, MD; Ball State University, Muncie, IN and Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI.