Rachel Hayes is a nationally recognized artist who creates fabric structures that vibrantly explore painting processes, quilt making, architectural space, light, and shadow. Because of the large-scale nature of her installations and her interests in painting and the craft of sewing, Hayes’ work is a balance of power and fragility.
A striking example of the balance Hayes achieves is Not Fade Away, a “sensuous and experiential” atrium-filling installation at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, VA. Like many of her colorful patchwork installations, this piece allowed Hayes to explore her “fascination with processes and materials based in craft and design to create an abstract composition that embraces the language of painting while interacting with space in a sculptural manner.”
Hayes’ installation-based works have been exhibited extensively at venues like the Sculpture Center in Queens, NY, and the Nerman Museum in Overland Park, KS. Hayes has been commissioned to create public projects in cities across the country. Rachel is a recipient of the 2016 Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for Painters and Sculptors.
Born and raised outside of Kansas City, MO, Hayes received her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has based her studio in locations across the USA from Brooklyn, NY, to Roswell, NM. Hayes currently lives in Tulsa, OK where she and her husband Eric Sall are both residents at the Tulsa Artist Fellowship. Rachel and Eric have a son and a daughter. Her website is found here.
In late 2019, we featured Rachel and Eric Sall in a two person exhibition Affinities.
Rachel Hayes installs a huge new installation as part of her Tulsa artist fellowship in Tulsa, OK.
