Rachel Pollak

Master of Fine Arts, Printmedia, '09

2009 Fellowship Recipient

Experience at SAIC

At SAIC I've had the opportunity to experiment with a wide range of media and conceptual strategies, and to work with artists, writers, critics, historians and practitioners of all sorts. I enjoyed teaching, participating in exhibitions and events like the Southern Graphics Council conference, sharing studios and critiques with other graduate students, traveling with professors and students on interim study trips, and getting involved with Chicago's art scene.  I look forward to many years of fruitful collaboration and interchange with the people I've met during my time here.

Personal statement

There are repeating forms in my sculptures and drawings; patterns in the landscape that imply a supporting or sheltering structure. A delectable mountain (from the traditional American quilt pattern), a mountain you can live at the foot of. This approach resembles a kind of masonry, to invoke the state of being intact. That we are all here, we are all safe, or if not then we’re all in whatever mess we’re in together—this is what matters most.

I make things in pairs or lots, implying kinship or society. It is the tension between the persistent identities of individuals and the groups they are a part of that interests me. I suffer a desire for formality, for ritual (to say grace, make a vow, set a table for a meal). The moment of hesitation beforehand; the confused mid-task pause. The figures in my drawings perform strange errands whose meanings are not readily apparent. For the viewer there is a subtle invitation, not to perform literally, but to an inward experience of allowing oneself to be guided, of being with others in thought and deed.

I plan to use the Fellowship award I received from SAIC to help pay for materials and studio rental when I relocate to New York City this summer.

Current Interests

Some of my influences include the drawings and paintings of Pieter Brueghel and Fra Angelico, the illustrated, printed books of William Blake, the films of Robert Bresson, the puppet theater and woodcut prints of Peter and Elka Schumann and Bread and Puppet Theater, the stories of Henry James, the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Philip Larkin, the philosophical and theological writings of Louis Marie Chauvet and Nicholas Wolterstorff, Shaker gift drawings, and the American traditions of quilt making and Sacred Harp shape note singing.

Background

I hold a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College and a Master of Arts and Religion from Yale Divinity School. I have exhibited in Chicago, New York and Salt Lake City, and my work is included in the Arts of the Book Collection at Yale University and private collections in Chicago and New York.