Rachel Mulder lives in Portland, Oregon, with her two cats, Opal and Tomasina. She was born in rural Wisconsin and when she was small she spent a lot of time sitting in the grass staring, obsessing about animals, watching cartoons and peeling her skin off. Now she makes drawings using a variety of media that often yield printmakerly textures - residual effects from earning her BFA in Printmaking at Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in 2007. A process-oriented artist, her work vacillates back and forth between the meticulous and obsessive to playful experimentation and experientiality. Whether it’s drawing with human hair, mud, cyanotype, gel pen or graphite, her imagery explores human connection, expression, and the strangeness of existing in a body. Encouraging others (and herself) to create/exist sincerely is a parallel passion of hers that braids itself into her visual work.
