About the Artist
Rachael Grad is a Toronto artist, mother, and former lawyer who has studied and worked in the US, France, Italy and Hong Kong. Grad left practicing law to study painting full-time in New York City at the New York Studio School and then New York University (NYU) before transferring to OCAD University. Grad earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from OCAD University as the Governor General's Academic Medal and Mrs. W.O. Forsyth Award Winner and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts (Visual Arts) from York University in 2024. Grad was awarded a Grad was awarded a Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant, including the Michael C. Smith Foreign Supplement Award, CGS Master’s Scholarship, and Ontario Graduate Scholarship.
Grad's abstract art practice incorporates digital painting, collage, observational drawing and painting. Grad combines her experience as a mother, former lawyer and traveller into her artwork. Creating work based on parenting moments, Grad’s current series include “Mommy Mayhem” and "Motherhood Hit Me Like a Train" abstract paintings. Her paintings and artwork have been shown at Brandeis University (Waltham, Massachusetts) and the Museum of Motherhood (St Petersburg, Florida), and in solo and group shows in Washington, DC, New York City, Miami, Florida, Venice, Italy, Toronto, and Montreal, Canada. Grad’s artwork has been featured in FEMSPEC, MER Literary Journal, MILK Art Journal, Verklempt! and Niv Magazine.
Rachael Grad lives and works in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. To see her full CV, click here.
Inspired by Colour
"Colour is the uniting factor in my artwork. Painting and drawing are my main focus, but I also incorporate mixed-media collage and photography into my studio practice.
Trained to work from life as an observational painter, I combines painting from life with gestural lines and abstract marks.
Current series include "Motherhood Hit Me Like a Train" line art paintings on paper, "After the Plague Party" gestural paintings, and "Mommy Mayhem" paintings and digital collages."
Painting Process
"In my art studio, I work on multiple paintings and drawings over many sessions. I experiment with different applications of colour: washes of paint, bold brushstrokes, and palette knife marks across the canvas or panel.
My recent abstract paintings are lively and full of gesture and movement. As I apply paint, the image becomes more abstract. Each artwork has many layers and textures built up over multiple painting sessions.
As a mother of 3 children, my art studio time is treasured and focused. Through making art, I reconnect with myself as an adult and creator, independent of being a mother and wife. The pressures of family and time constraints come out in my artwork, even when I set out to make slow, meditative paintings."
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