High Artist Spotlight: Rachel Owens

Rachel was born in 1994 in the tiny Appalachian town of Hiwassee, VA where she first began to draw. She moved around a lot as a child and eventually ended up in the Richmond area where she has spent most of her life. 
She has been drawing for nearly every day for her entire life. She took her first art classes in high school where her teachers were very surprised by her talent. They recommended that she start attending figure drawing sessions at the local art university. So, she did. She started attending regular figure drawing sessions starting at the age of 16 and has kept up with this practice for over a decade now. This has helped her greatly excel her skills with graphite and charcoal drawing. 
Rachel learned how to draw on her own through books and online classes and at the age of 20, she started her illustration career. Unfortunately she lost that job in 2021 due to the lockdowns and being laid off. That hasn’t slowed her down though. It has only given her the opportunity to pursue personal projects. She currently works on a fruit farm during the day and spends her nights drawing. She LOVES to draw and dreams of building her own worlds using her artistic skills.
We recently caught up with Rachel after High Art 2023 to learn more about her most recent inspirations:

Where do you find your creative inspiration?
Animation, comics, fine art, and the world around me.

Why do you do what you do?
I enjoy doing what feels most meaningful. For me, that's creating.

What art/artist do you most identify with?
Any art that feels honest.

What themes do you pursue the most?
Imagination and the human experience.

What role does an artist have in society?
To show us how the world could be. To create things that inspire others.

What is your artistic outlook on life?
Drawing as a process, not as a product.

What advice would you give to your younger self?
Stress less. Things always work out.

Do you listen to music while you are creating? If yes, share the song and artist that you listen to while creating art.
I like to listen to Lofi, or instrumental music. There's no specific artist or song mentioned.

What's the best thing about being an artist?
Creating new things and showing them to people.

What is your dream project?
I have a bucket list of projects I think would be fun to tackle one day.

Support Rachel by shopping his collection here.

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