September’s featured artist is holding her first major Resonator solo show. Rachel Stout is a long time volunteer and often co-hosts group exhibitions at Resonator, like the upcoming DOOMMOOD show. However, this time around Rachel is taking the lead and bringing us a singular vision. Come experience this and more during September’s 2nd Friday Art Walk on September 13th from 6:30-10:00 p.m.
-Helen Grant
Submitted by the artist: Rachel Stout.
Q/A
Q. Can you tell us what "Transfixion" is about and what inspired the project?
A. Transfixion started out as a project to create trance-like artwork, but as the project evolved it became more and more about a personal narrative that went from thoughts and feelings I was experiencing at the time into myself analyzing why it is I started and continue to create in the first place or rather why creating had become the subject of my own personal Transfixion. The inspiration for the project originally stemmed from the images that some of my favorite music constructed in my mind and my endeavors to seek meaning, if there was any, connected to these images. I have found that as I have continued the project that I have really become grounded in my roots, the real reason I ever became a creator at all and that is simply to have fun and escape reality if only for a moment.
Q. How long have you worked on these images?
A. The images that make up Transfixion took me about a year to create. The interesting thing is that the second piece I created for the show, “Evolution”, really kicked off the entire project because I felt with each image I created the artwork evolved. The final pieces I created for the show even began to display color, something that has been missing from my art and my life for a long time.
Q. What events or trips have you taken and how have these experiences informed the work in "Transfixion"?
A. I could go on and on about the experiences that formed this project. From bright-eyed fascination with the human ability to create images that are reflections of one’s inner thoughts to pure existentialism, these are just a couple of concepts that formed Transfixion. Seeing other creatives at work is always inspiring, such as at the Denver and Resonator Zine Fests, but the number one thing that seemed to inspire the project is self reflection.
Q. What Instagram, Facebook, or other online profiles do you follow and why?
A. I’m not big on social media in all honesty, so I really don’t follow many profiles to gather inspiration. Rather, I listen to music from a number of different artists from many different genres. I feel that some of the most “pure” inspiration for me is influenced by sound. I suppose I also pay a lot of attention to the art of the streets such as murals and graffiti. I think of city walls as being like a giant public “social platform” where people share their ideas and creations with those who appreciate the art form.
Q. What art events are you excited about in the near future?
A. I am very excited for the upcoming OKC Zine Fest as well as another event that Natalie Copeland and myself are organizing a show called Doommood. I will also be displaying my artwork at the local brewery Lazy Circles in October and I can’t wait to share new artwork with the patrons that drink there!
Q. What haven't I asked that you want people to know about you, your work in "Transfixion", additional sources of inspiration, or upcoming projects you're also involved with?
A. I’m excited about the future of my creative process. I plan on adding more color in my future artwork, which is something I haven’t done much for a long time now. I will continue to make artwork that has the intention to highlight the divinity that can be found in all things, including humans, and that celebrates the empowerment of women.
I am also a licensed tattoo artist at Hall of Tattoos and would love to have more opportunities to tattoo examples from my original artwork as well as designing custom work for people in my style.
Submitted by the artist: Rachel Stout.
Artist Statement:
As an artist my goal is to create clean images that take the viewer to a balanced and reflective place. Ideas such as ego death, connectivity, and deep ecology inspire me. Some of my greatest artistic influences come from the anonymous and known works of street artists; I find the nature of rebellion in their art inspiring. Music has always been a loyal companion to my inspiration and I often give it power over my pen as I allow its sounds to mold and shape my work.
A major goal of my art is to not only give myself, but those who lay their eyes upon my work a thoughtful escape. I hope to open the minds and the mouths of my viewers to help them perhaps find what inspires them and for everyone to know that they too have the power to create.
Artist Bio:
Rachel Stout is an Oklahoma based artist raised in the small town of Noble. She attended Community Christian School in Norman, Oklahoma and shortly before graduating transferred and graduated from Norman North. Rachel has always had a love for art and a universe that seems beyond our own. Her ambition to teach people that they can make beautiful works of art began in early high school when she held her first painting class for elementary schoolers to make art for local cancer patients. The artwork was displayed on the cancer treatment floor at Norman Regional Hospital before being distributed to the patients. Rachel’s next class she put together and led had been held at the Noble Library as an after-school program for kids. In that class kids learned how to apply their imaginations at drawing an original character of their own and they then had the opportunity to show their progress to their families at the end of the class.
As high school moved along, Rachel decided it was time to take a shot at a more competitive art world. She was given the opportunity to enter her work in the Young Artists of Oklahoma Competition at the University of Central Oklahoma and was accepted into the OCU gallery space to compete for further recognition. During this time, Rachel became more involved in the CCS art shows and won awards for the art work she displayed including best of show during the 2012 showing.
After high school, Rachel spent some time attending Oklahoma City Community College, but shortly changed her path to becoming a professional tattoo artist.
Currently Rachel is involved in her local art community in Norman, OK. She frequently participates in 2nd Friday Art Walk by selling and displaying her work, doing live art, or doing live portrait art. She is also a volunteer at Resonator Institute and has displayed and sold work in their gallery.
Rachel is also involved with is the co-founding and organization of Spaced Out Arts Norman and Spaced Out Arts Crawl on Campus Corner at the University of Oklahoma.
Follow her at: @chelsartistry
Support via Patreon: artbyrachelstout
Submitted by the artist: Rachel Stout.