Bio
Born and adopted from Cuenca, Ecuador, Raquel is an emerging artist from Biddeford, Maine. Through painting, she is interested in unearthing the unexpressed and revealing what cannot be seen–exploring emotions, memory, grief and dreams. She received a BA in English with minors in Studio Art and Spanish from the University of Southern Maine in 2017. She was a recipient of the 2022 BIPOC Fellowship at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and in 2023 was awarded a residency at SPACE Gallery in Portland, Maine. Raquel is a recipient of the David C. Driskell Fellowship and Residency at Black Seed Studio awarded by Indigo Arts Alliance, and scheduled for 2024. Her work has been displayed online, in New York at Collarworks (Troy), Deanna Evans Projects (NYC), and throughout Southern Maine at the Harlow, Engine, Buoy Gallery, New System Exhibitions, 82 Parris, Alice Gauvin Gallery, Waterville Creates, and UNE Art Gallery.
Artist Statement
I am longing to communicate through my work and longing for my work to communicate with me. I want to unearth the unexpressed and reveal what cannot be seen–exploring my emotions, memory, grief, and my dreams. Through intuitive mark making and color, I guide myself towards a point of articulation as images, themes, and marks begin to create a visual language of my own. My work explores mark making as a sign of my hand and record of my own existence. I am interested in the images and marks that emerge again and again, deciphering their meaning and tendencies of behavior, becoming familiar with them until they are no longer something to fear, but something that provides comfort and healing.