Collection: 02 | R.L. GIBSON

R.L. GIBSON (Rachel) works as a mixed media artist with work in galleries from New York to Los Angeles and collections around the world. A happily-married, mother of one, Gibson lives & works in the southeast United States at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains.  Her practice currently explores work that overlays watercolor with embroidery.  The hand-stitched component of this work lends movement to otherwise still media while paying homage to the band of quilting women she calls family.

“Embroidery over watercolor is my voice. There are a lot of us working on paper, and there are a few of us stitching on paper. The combination of paint and embroidery gives my work a voice and allows it to speak with a sort of meditative precision.

At the end of every series, I find I have often arrived at the same place, the same premise –given patterns overlaid with chosen patterns. These patterns offer perspective on, and reverence for, both human potential and responsibility.  How do our experiences shape us? And would we make the same choices if we knew the consequences?  In a life lived to its fullest, is the answer more often ‘yes’ than ‘no’?  These are the questions I ask.” –R.L. Gibson