RACHEL ESCOE
IN THE ARTIST'S WORDS
The backbone of my work involves the challenges and processes behind the material of hot glass. These stages go from drawing to planning to sculpting in glass, as well as glass starting out as something that is fluid and transforming into a solid substance. Going through this process of
sculpting and creating glasswork puts a calming veil over me and soothes me every time I’m in the glass shop. The therapeutic aspect of taking my emotions out through the glass is what I live for.
I have strong, sensitive emotions in me and some would say I am a sponge. Through out my childhood I learned to visualize a shield around me to protect me from everyones energies, as well as myself. I also used this sensitivity as a tool to hear people and listen to them when they needed it. I have learned to be very empathetic towards people, but sometimes that gets in the way of taking care of myself.
There was a time when I reached a point in my life where I lost a lot of things and people. I made some bad decisions and didn’t listen to my gut. The country I lived in for so long shunned me and I found myself going back home; to a place I hadn’t lived in for 7 years. Oregon was a place
where no one really knew me anymore or understood what I was going through. So I closed myself up and in the end it all came out through my dreams and haunted my thoughts. I had to address the things that were haunting me. So, I decided to draw and keep blowing glass. I decided to take these thoughts that were taking over my body and push them through my fingers; Onto paper, stainless steel and molten glass. I took some time to forgive myself and then I showed the world the darkest parts of myself. I always wanted to be an Artist. I finally found the best way to use this tool for myself and for others. Through this I found peace and I also found the things I love most in life.
Challenge, Process and Therapy are the 3 words to describe the backbone of my work and this is how I give it the strength that it needs.
Project Statement : Mountains
These vessels are apart of the ever growing Dusk Mountain Series I have been making. They are inspired by the time of day when the mountains are silhouetted and the sky is still lit-up with various blues, purple and green colors. The mountains get that perfect crisp line on the edge of the sky that it becomes so enchanting and it leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling inside. These are hand crafted with love for the pacific NW and getting out into nature.
Project Statement : Koru - New Beginnings
The Koru, which is often used in Maori Art as a symbol of creation. is based on the shape of an unfurling fern frond. Its Circular shape conveys the idea of the perpetual movement and its inward coil suggests a return to the point of origin. The Koru therefore symbolizes the way in which life both changes and stays the same
ABOUT RACHEL
Calgary, Alberta was Rachel Escoe’s home for 7 years. She grew up in Portland, Oregon and came to Calgary to attend college at the Alberta College of Art and Design. Currently she is residing back home in Portland, Oregon where she rents time from various shops around the city and works for various artist’s as well as herself. In her first two years of school she took a range of different courses before engulfing herself in glass. She took sculpture, fibre, print, drawing, video and ceramics. She has basic mig-welding and woodworking skills as well.
Artist's Website: https://www.rachelescoeglass.com/
The backbone of my work involves the challenges and processes behind the material of hot glass. These stages go from drawing to planning to sculpting in glass, as well as glass starting out as something that is fluid and transforming into a solid substance. Going through this process of
sculpting and creating glasswork puts a calming veil over me and soothes me every time I’m in the glass shop. The therapeutic aspect of taking my emotions out through the glass is what I live for.
I have strong, sensitive emotions in me and some would say I am a sponge. Through out my childhood I learned to visualize a shield around me to protect me from everyones energies, as well as myself. I also used this sensitivity as a tool to hear people and listen to them when they needed it. I have learned to be very empathetic towards people, but sometimes that gets in the way of taking care of myself.
There was a time when I reached a point in my life where I lost a lot of things and people. I made some bad decisions and didn’t listen to my gut. The country I lived in for so long shunned me and I found myself going back home; to a place I hadn’t lived in for 7 years. Oregon was a place
where no one really knew me anymore or understood what I was going through. So I closed myself up and in the end it all came out through my dreams and haunted my thoughts. I had to address the things that were haunting me. So, I decided to draw and keep blowing glass. I decided to take these thoughts that were taking over my body and push them through my fingers; Onto paper, stainless steel and molten glass. I took some time to forgive myself and then I showed the world the darkest parts of myself. I always wanted to be an Artist. I finally found the best way to use this tool for myself and for others. Through this I found peace and I also found the things I love most in life.
Challenge, Process and Therapy are the 3 words to describe the backbone of my work and this is how I give it the strength that it needs.
Project Statement : Mountains
These vessels are apart of the ever growing Dusk Mountain Series I have been making. They are inspired by the time of day when the mountains are silhouetted and the sky is still lit-up with various blues, purple and green colors. The mountains get that perfect crisp line on the edge of the sky that it becomes so enchanting and it leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling inside. These are hand crafted with love for the pacific NW and getting out into nature.
Project Statement : Koru - New Beginnings
The Koru, which is often used in Maori Art as a symbol of creation. is based on the shape of an unfurling fern frond. Its Circular shape conveys the idea of the perpetual movement and its inward coil suggests a return to the point of origin. The Koru therefore symbolizes the way in which life both changes and stays the same
ABOUT RACHEL
Calgary, Alberta was Rachel Escoe’s home for 7 years. She grew up in Portland, Oregon and came to Calgary to attend college at the Alberta College of Art and Design. Currently she is residing back home in Portland, Oregon where she rents time from various shops around the city and works for various artist’s as well as herself. In her first two years of school she took a range of different courses before engulfing herself in glass. She took sculpture, fibre, print, drawing, video and ceramics. She has basic mig-welding and woodworking skills as well.
Artist's Website: https://www.rachelescoeglass.com/