Biography and Statement

My artistic work investigates social and political concerns as well as feminist themes. My art practice incorporates digital prints, video, fabric, artist's books and installation pieces. I draw on autobiography in much the same way that Second Wave Feminists used the personal to address patriarchal power structures. In my work I weave together multiple interests, often using humor and playfulness to investigate issues that are significant to me (including body image, family, health and wealth). Initially I worked in collage, photography and mixed media. In the mid-1980s my process was transformed by access to DIY technology: the availability of copy machines and desktop publishing. The current digital media revolution plays a notable role in the way my art is made and viewed. My work and the process of making it has been transformed by technological and cultural shifts with access to new media.

Currently my life straddles two places: living, teaching and making art in Los Angeles and Portland. In Oregon, over the past five years I created personal work, taught, and organized a large scale a community art project. Cycle Seen 2008, celebrated the diverse bicycle culture in Portland through nine exhibitions featuring photographs and art of over 80 artists, this project was supported in part by a grant from Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC).  In February 2007, Re-freshing Play, an installation examining female memory and how women's perspectives and perceptions change with age, was on display at the Rake Art Gallery in Portland. In August, 2006, Hidden Acts: Balancing Truths, a solo installation that explored family secrets, was on display at the Portland Building. This project was supported by RACC. A few additional highlights of my activities during the past five years in the Pacific Northwest include: participating in PICA's Dada Ball during the TBA:05 Festival with an installation piece entitled Dress-Up; a solo exhibition Seams-Sew Ordinary at the University of Washington Tacoma Gallery

I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. I have recently returned to teach digital art to high school and middle school students in LA during the school year. Which circles me back to myself as a teenager, I co-published two zines, Ink Disease and Emissions with Antonio Lopez. We utilized self-publishing as a way to disseminate collage imagery, photographs, drawings, music reviews, writings expressing our political and cultural views. I attended UC Berkeley and graduated with honors in 1989 with simultaneous Bachelor of Arts degrees in the Practice of Art and Peace & Conflict Studies. The latter is a trans-disciplinary major, which allowed me to examine ways to facilitate a peaceful and just society through art, film and literature. The combination of concentrations reinforced my belief in art as a powerful tool for both self-expression and social change. I spent my junior year at the Karl Marx University of Economics in Budapest Hungary, which allowed me to examine the art of revolution and propaganda more carefully. During my last year I put those lessons into practice as an intern at Artists' Television Access (ATA).

Starting in the 1990s, I spent time advocating for the fine s arts both through organizing art events and teaching art. As a member of the board of directors for the Arroyo Arts Collective I helped put together several site-specific installations (Without Alarm I and II) that included over 100 artists. I continue to be involved with the Collective and show my work in their annual Discovery Tour and group shows. I served as the gallery director of the Art Department Gallery at University at Buffalo where I completed a Master of Fine Arts degree, in May of 2002. While living in Western New York I also was the Webmaster and active member of Evolutionary Girls Club, an inclusive group of artists and activists who work and show work globally.

My background as an educator is unconventional and varied in nature, extending from experience in teaching community-based arts programs to university level instruction. In 1990, my first job after receiving my BA incorporated teaching and developing an art curriculum for pregnant teens and teen mothers for the Los Angeles School District. Throughout the 1990s in the LA area, I worked as an instructor/artist-in-residence for a number of non-profit arts organizations including Armory Center for the Arts, International Child Art Collection, and Kidspace Museum. For several years, I taught computer-generated art for the Studio Art Program at the University of Rochester and all levels of undergraduate black and white photography courses at State University of New York at Brockport. I was recently taught at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Mt Hood Community College and Portland Community College. I have recently returned to Los Angeles area for the school year and I am teaching digital art courses at Sierra Canyon School, an independent middle and high school.

Rachel J. Siegel
Oct 28, 2008