 Surprise! I have finally actually written a newsletter! Happy New Year! It is finally here! My first newsletter! It is highly unlikely that this newsletter will come out weekly. It will probably more likely come out somewhere between monthly or quarterly, or just randomly when I feel like I have something new to say. But today I wanted to share a few updates from the studio, a look ahead at upcoming travels and exhibitions, and a handful of things currently keeping me company. Upcoming Travels — Join Me and my fabulous friend & fellow artist Wendy I’ll soon be traveling to France & Italy to run art retreats with my amazing artist friend Wendy.
 What I’m Listening To As an artist, hunting and gathering is a big part of my creative process which is a bit of a double edged sword for someone who sees potential in pretty much everything they lay eyes on. But the reality is, one can collect too much which means I need to get rid of some things which is not my strong suit. But I have been practicing that muscle and am calling the whole process The Shawshank Method :) So, in the studio, I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts and audio books about habits and organization. I’ve been working to streamline the spaces I live my life in, whether it is in my studio or at home. This episode of Discipline Expert is a good listen. One of my current favorite audio books is “Nobody Wants Your Sh*t: The Art of Decluttering Before You Die.” I listen to it while I organize and declutter. It kind of makes it feel like a have a very funny, friendly but logical coach talking to me the whole time I am working and I literally laugh out loud every time she says “Nobody wants your sh*t.”
With Thanks
If I haven’t said it before, please accept a heartfelt thank you to collectors and supporters who have welcomed my work into their lives. Your belief in what I’m making allows me to continue this practice, and I’m deeply grateful.
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I was recently in Los Angeles for business retreat and went a couple days early to have the time to go visit some museums. Before I went, I didn’t look at what was on exhibit or plan on what to see. I simply wanted to look at art and wanted to be open to the possibilities. So, I booked a hotel within walking distance to LACMA. So, I have to do a little shout out to Hotel Wilshire! They have a lovey happy hour every day for guests and a fabulous rooftop restaurant where I had what was possibly the best cheeseburger of my life. But I am now off topic...  Urban Light, 2008 by Chris Burden Upon arriving at LACMA I discovered that the original permanent collection galleries were closed in preparation for the upcoming construction of their new building, the David Geffen Galleries (set to open in 2024). But hey, that is what happens when you don’t look at the website...you tend to get redirected. So, off I went to the Broad Contemporary Art Museum. Now, I must tell you something. I have always had a complicated relationship with Modern Art. It requires me to slow down and really look to understand what is going on. It is harder for me to digest than straightforward narrative art (think Rothko vs. Van Gogh.) It tends to make my head hurt like wearing a hat that is a couple sizes too small. But it also tends to expand how I think, so I put myself through the discomfort. So, imagine my suffering when I entered the Julie Mehretu exhibit! When I first walked in I was definitely not in love. It was like being set up on a blind date and showing up to the restaurant only to realize that your date doesn’t quite measure up to what you had imagined. But you sit down anyway because you are a pretty decent human being and you trust your friend had some good reason for setting the two of you up. Who knows...maybe you will find them interesting. As I walked through the exhibit, the explanations of the work were critical to really helping me get to know my her. They answered the questions about the way she works and how she thinks. It was a good conversation. The depth in her earlier paintings is rich and almost fathomless. They are built up through layers of lines, shapes and colors of varying weights. It is sort of like you are looking through layers of sediment on an archaeological dig but those layers of sediment are clear and you are standing on top of them, looking down.  Sketch of Epigraph, Damascus. Click the link to see the real thing. There is one piece Epigraph, Damascus that is made up of six panels which has layers of different types of printmaking. It is enormous and makes a big impact from a distance. I fear that I was more impressed with the technique, the size of it and its presentation rather than the content. Or is it the content that makes me uncomfortable? That as I get closer to the piece and read what it represents, it becomes more personal?  Sketch of Being Higher I. Click the link on the right to the real thing and read more about it. But it was the black and white work that really resonated with me. It is a real departure from her earlier work. It is just simply more emotive than the cold impersonal touch in her earlier pieces. Being Higher I is a dance of light and dark. This work really has Mehretu’s hand in it and it really is like she is finally trusting you with seeing her. It is like dark chocolate - a little bit sweet and also a little bit bitter. But that little taste of bitter makes the sweetness so much more potent.
I am still not in love but I am just intrigued enough to go on a second date.  Put all my MSDS forms in one place. And yes, they actually opened it and looked inside because they were out in the suitcase when I opened my bag. So, I am a bit of a planner. For a long time I thought I was one of those really relaxed type B kind of personalities. That is until one day I had my sense of self shaken to the core. Flashback a decade or so ago when my life was that of a law firm manager who ran from meeting to meeting. I was sitting in a meeting and somehow the conversation turned to "Are you a Type A or a Type B?" Without hesitation I said "I am totally Type B!" One of the partners at the firm looked at me and laughed. I looked at him quizzically (truthfully, my head was probably cocked to the side like a dog hearing a high pitched noise) and asked why he laughed. He responded with "Racquel...you are absolutely the least Type B person I know." And the whole room laughed and shook their heads in agreement. I couldn't help but laugh. But I thought "What the hell are they talking about?" So, now I will show you a few pictures of how I planned for my Artist Residency and you can tell me whether you think I am Type A or Type B :)  Peer into the contents of my suitcase. Yes, those are sticky notes!  Yeah, this is just a snippet of my planning list!
Documenting my experience was one of tbe things I wanted to do during my artist residency at Chateau Orquevaux. At my home studio in Maryland, I try to start and end every day in the studio with a little journal writing. I have found in the morning it helps clear the cobwebs away and in the evening it helps me take an objective look at my work and set my intentions for the next day. For tbe residency, I wanted to take that practice and tweak it just a bit. So here, I write each day about what I have seen or done and then do a little pen and ink drawing that relates to my writing.
 A fog Stephen King couldn't have written better. After arriving in Paris at 7:30 in the morning, I rented a car and headed out onto the roads of France. The fog was a Stephen King kind of thick and the roads were eerily empty.  First sighting of Chateau Orquevaux from the road. Around four hours into the ride, after squeezing my car through the narrow streets of several small villages, the fog cleared and the Chateau appeared on the top of the hill and my heart started to race.  Gollum the cat. She is a lover not a fighter. I walked in and was greeted by a cat named Gollum, who turned her back on me but only to get a good head scratch :) |
Racquel KellerMaryland artist sharing her experience. Archives
January 2026
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