Rachel Fosters art practice began with her completion of a Diploma in Photography.  Her creative process still involves taking photographs that capture structures in atmospheric conditions, however - Rachel now uses these as a reference for her first love .. painting.

Rachel completed a Graduate Diploma in painting (with Merit) from Dunedin School of Art (Otago Polytechnic) in 2019.  She found this study helped her to both refine & consolidate he art practice.  She continues to study at post-graduate level to extend her practice even further.  Fosters' influences include J.M.W Turner, The Romantic & New Romantic movements and in particular artists Gary Currin & Petrus Ven der Velden.

"... my work seems to convery a moment in time, a gateway to another realm.  Local Otago landscape is a constant reference for me with its majestic beauty and where the sublime can feel ever present.  The power of nature is referenced in my work with spontaneous gestural mark making, whilst the human motif remains centre stage.. it is this paradox that intrigues me. the pull and play between this worls and the next and the bridge between the two.

Through my work I explore ideas of the existence of a spiritual sphere, a metaphysical space that can be seen and or felt in our everyday lives - that remind us of another dimension, another home.  To me even the must mundane of objects, such as a power pole or a water outlet can have a form of beauty or magic about it when surrounded by landscape and light... "