Rachel Personett was born in Hawaii, but raised in Colorado. Being the daughter of a pilot she has always traveled extensively. She has studied part time at the Savannah College of Art and Design, The Angel Academy of Art, and finally settled on the Florence Academy of Art, graduating in 2015. In January 2016 she apprenticed the painter Odd Nerdrum in Norway for eight months. Rachel Personett works strictly from life, and enjoys the challenged of painting the ephemeral. Working from life provides the opportunity to travel around the world painting the ever changing people and landscapes.

Artist Statement

My mother had studied advertising in college, so she knew a lot about arts and good craftsmanship. She did talks at my elementary school each week and on a different artist. I remember being very moved by the images of Van Gogh and Andrew Wyeth. At the Florence Academy I really liked Sargent, Sorolla, Willard Metcalf, Henri Fantin-Latour and Velazquez. At Odd Nerdrums I gained new respect for Rembrandt and was introduced to other Scandinavian painters like Edward Munch, Anders Zorn, and Fritz Thaulow. I currently am really inspired by the 19th century painters like Monet, Manet, Degas. And more modern painters like Andrew and Jamie Wyeth, Ben Fenske, Daniela Astone, Michael Kline, Marc Dalessio, Dmitriy Permiakov.

Education:

-Savannah College of Art and Design 2010-2012

-The Angel Academy of Art, located in Florence, Italy, 9 January 2012 through 14 June 2012.

-Florence Academy of Art, Located in Florence Italy, October 1, 2012 to June 9^th, 2015

-The Nerdrum School, January 13, 2016 to August 23^rd, 2016

Awards:

- The International Thespian Society and the Colorado State Thespians, First Place, IE Main Stage Showcase- Costume Design, 2009.

-The Savannah College of Art and Design, Portfolio Awards Show March 2011, three works exhibited, First place

-The Savannah College of Art and Design, Drawing Works Exhibition, work accepted and exhibited, 2011

-The Savannah College of Art and Design, Scope of Drawing, work accepted and exhibited Fall 2011

-The Savannah College of Art and Design, Foundation Studies Honors Show, work accepted and exhibited

-The Savannah College of Art and Design, 2012 SCAD Foundations Honors Show, four works selected and showed.

-The Savannah College of Art and Design, 2013 National Architectural Accrediting Board, works selected and will be showed

-Accepted into the Hudson River Fellowship, July 15 – August 2, 2013.

-The Florence Academy of Art, Best Beginning Cast Drawing, for the academic year of 2012 -2013, June 22^nd 2013

-13^th Annual Art Renewal Center Scholarship Award, third place award, September 9^th, 2013

-Alpine Fellowship, Loch Ness, Scotland, Guest painter, August 24^th-27^th, 2014

-The World Wide Kitsch 2016 Annual Competition, Second Place, November 14^th, 2016

2017

-Small Works, Collins Galleries, Orleans, MA

-Summer Salon, Collins Galleries, Orleans, MA

- The Galerie Schloß Wiespach, Collective Exhibition of Contemporary Landscape-Art, Marc Dalessio, Ben Fenske, and Rachel Personett, Halline, Austria

- The Drawing Studio, Solo Show

- The Royal Hibernian Academy, 187th Annual Exhibition

- The Green Fuse, Westport, Ireland, Solo Show

-Maxwell Alexander Gallery, Small Works Show

2016

Maxwell Alexander Gallery, Black Friday Show

2015

Villa Palmerino, Italy, Solo Show

2014

REPRESENT 2014, Knotting Hill, London