Rachel Foster has been drawing for as long as she can remember. From the moment she could hold a pencil, she felt as though she had something to say through art. She found a passion for painting when she saw Frida Kahlo’s work in a museum as a child.
Her work will be exhibited during a First Friday show titled, “Feral Fields,” at Newman University’s Steckline Gallery located inside the De Mattias Fine Arts Center.
The show will take place from 5-7 p.m. March 6 and is free and open to the public. Foster will talk to an audience during a casual “Art for Lunch” presentation noon-1 p.m. Thursday, March 5. The exhibit will be open to the public March 5-27, Monday through Friday during gallery hours, which are 9 a.m.-4 p.m., or by appointment.
Foster describes herself as a “prolific and enthusiastic painter who enjoys using light, color and pattern to capture the complexities of relationships and to document domestic moments.”
She added, “Building the domestic environment with color and pattern, and representing the daily conflicts and developments with symbolism and metaphor, are some of the ways I tell the story of the evolution of the family,” Foster said of her artistic style.
“Feral Fields” is some of Foster’s newest work in which she focuses on her rural Kansas life experiences. The artwork portrays life on a small farm with her family.
She not only loves creating art — she also finds joy in teaching the skill.
Foster has taught at Wichita State University, Kansas State University, Bethany College and is currently a full-time faculty member at Butler Community College in the visual arts department.
She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and drawing from K-State in 2007 and her Master of Fine Arts in painting and drawing from WSU in 2013.
“My work is formalist depictions of family life in a home with two autistic sons. I use pattern and color to represent the frenetic activity and loudness of our lives,” said Foster.
“Feral Fields is the name of our small farm, and a tongue-in-cheek reference to our family life, which is pretty wild. The show itself will consist of representational oil paintings.”
Foster hopes exhibit visitors will feel some connection to the mundane and distinctly Midwest scenes, provoking nostalgia in their own lives.
For more information about the exhibit, contact Shannon Johnston, Steckline Gallery director, at [email protected].
