Biography

Rachael Padilla is a multi-media artist. Born in 1976, and raised in a small town in Northern New Mexico a half hour’s drive from Taos. Her father’s family had settled in the region centuries before, and generations of her ancestors from Spain and Mexico lived there before her. She was exposed to the diverse cultures and art of the area. The impressive landscapes and array of colors in the Southwestern skies provided an appreciation for beauty at a young age.

A passion for creating and drawing was with her from an early age, and she eventually took it all the way to college. Attending Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado and graduating with a BA with emphases in painting, drawing and art history in 1999. She returned to complete an MA  in Fine Art in 2011. Studying the art of her Hispanic culture in New Mexico and creating a thesis that coupled that history with her own art and life experience.

She continued her love of learning by completing yoga teacher training at the University of New Mexico (UNM), in Taos, New Mexico in 2013.

In 2017, after a lifetime in the Southwest, she relocated to the American Southeast (Georgia).

She works in a range of media. Reaching deep to express emotional and challenging personal experiences (“Can’t See The Person for the Labels”, 2017), but also creating works of lightheartedness and playfulness (Collection of “Childlike Wonder”). She sees the challenge of being an artist in the digital age as an adventure, engaging with online audiences and fans through social media sites.

Padilla refers to herself as a self-portrait artist, even when the subject of her work is not her own image: while creating landscapes, for example. Her landscapes stir within her the feeling evoked of or from the place. Of her own work she says, “I create to capture moments, moods, feelings. They're deeply personal, so it's appropriate that I often use my own image. I think most artists create self portraits, even if it isn’t blatant. My work is about the progression of time by capturing moments. Experiencing the full range of human emotions is universal. Being an individual, however, can often feel very isolating. Which is why I do self portraits. Through the shared experience of memory and sensation, I want my art to connect with the viewer; to evoke a sense of commonality in the shared totality of human experience.”

While her work is primarily in acrylic, she often uses other media. Fashion design, photography, watercolor, drawing, even avant-garde short art films. No media seems off limits when it lends itself to her intended vision.