Rachel Morrissey
Rachel Morrissey, Orange You Glad, 2023, acrylic on paper, 24 x 18 inches
Rachel Morrissey, Blue Bloom, 2023, acrylic on paper, 22 x 16 inches
Rachel Morrissey, Were Going To Be Late, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 inches, 37.5 x 31.5 inches Framed
Rachel Morrissey, Overjoyed and Overloaded, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30 inches
Rachel Morrissey, Lemon Baby, 2023, acrylic on paper, 24 x 22 inches, 29 x 23 inches Framed
Rachel Morrissey, In the Playroom, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30 inches
Rachel Morrissey, Untitled, 2023, acrylic on paper, 24 x 18 inches, 29 x 23 inches Framed
Born in the late 80s in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Rachel Morrissey grew up in Connecticut and received her MFA in 2016 from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She earned a Post-Baccalaureate degree from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 2014 and a BFA in Studio Art from Indiana University in 2009. Morrissey is a mother of two young children and currently lives and works in Medfield, Massachusetts.
Rachel Morrissey’s narrative paintings give form and context to an invisible struggle with mental health, motherhood, fertility, pregnancy and daily life. Her paintings contain reoccurring imagery of unknowable strange plants as romantic associations for motherhood and fruitfulness, while weeds and vines represent the tension of the artist’s ongoing battle with anxiety. This playful balance of colorful imagery evokes seductive properties one moment and strangling vulnerability in the next. The human form is clearly not depicted but its presence is noted through motifs of the body. Morrissey creates these paintings through the lens and history of botanical art with a nod to childhood bedtime stories.
Morrissey hopes to seduce the viewer into this seemingly colorful, jubilant world, leading them to understand that all is not what it is seen above the surface. The motifs and patterns oscillate along the continuum of her experience as a mother finding exuberance, love and joy at one end and utter despair at the other. Morrissey’s work continues to ‘bear fruit’ as she chronicles and interprets the usual and unusual curveballs of life and motherhood through art and imagery.
Education
2016
MFA, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Boston, MA
2014
Post Baccalaureate, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
2009
BFA Studio Art, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Exhibitions
2023
New Beginnings, Two Person Exhibition at Voltz Clarke Gallery, New York, NY
2021
Forbidden Fruit, I Like Your Work Podcast, Piano Craft Gallery
Women in Abstraction, New Art Center Corridor at the Trio, Newton, MA
Bosscritt Daily January, Virtual Exhibition
Las Laguna Art Gallery, Small Works Big Talent
2020
Every Day In August, Virtual Exhibition, Bosscritt Curitorial Club
Congruence, I Like Your Work Podcast, Juried By Bridget Mayer Gallery, Summer 2020 2020 – Superfine E-fair, New York
2019
29th Annual MassArt Auction, Bakalar & Paine Galleries, Boston, MA
2016
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Bakalar & Paine Galleries, Boston, MA
Summer GIF Show, Pink Box Collective, Online
27th Annual MassArt Auction, Bakalar & Paine Galleries, Boston, MA
Ways to Use Walls, Student Life Gallery, Boston, MA
Creative Counterpoints: Women Difference & the Arts, Arnheim Gallery, MA
That Thing You Said, Arnheim Gallery, Boston, MA
2015
Hurry Up & Wait 2, Aviary Gallery, Boston, MA
Hurry Up and Wait, group show, Arnheim Gallery, Boston, MA
“Bouncing in the Corner”, group show, subSamson, Boston, MA
2014
mb2dy, Student Life Gallery, Boston, MA
Press
2021
Upcoming, Friend of the Artist, Volume 14
2020
Candyfloss Magazine, Enchanted Issue
Visionary Art Collective, Artist Feature & Interview
Awards
2014
he Doran Scholarship, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
2013
Post Baccalaureate Grant, School of the Museum of Fine Arts
Residencies
2021
March, Dear Artists Residency
2022
November – Stay Home Gallery & Residency
