Meet Rachel Usprich [email protected]

    Rachel Usprich, lives in St. Louis, Missouri with her husband and five children. While growing up in Atlanta, Georgia her Mother supported and encouraged her budding talent. She attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where she learned to paint like the old masters. Her painted scenes of Israel and especially Jerusalem show a real love for the place she called home for five years. “I think I was born an artist, eccentric and passionate.” 
     Rachel works from photographs. The scenes are panoramic and yet draw you in deeper through yet another doorway. Depth and dimension is achieved with underpainting and layers of painterly brush strokes. 
     One of her proudest accomplishments was when she exhibited her work at the Gush Etzion Judaica Museum in Israel, in the winter of 1997/98. 

 
I interviewed Rachel 07/12/2004 and this is what she had to say about her work, life and inspiration.

Q Are land and streetscapes your favorite subject matter?

A Pictures of buildings, especially entrances,courtyards or doorways are my favorite subjects.  I particularly love to paint  shadows, the contrast between light and dark.
 

Q Do these places have a particular meaning to you?

A I like to look at a painting and feel like I can walk into it.  All places in Israel are meaningful to me. You can feel the history in the air there.
 

Q How is life different for you now than when you were living in Israel?

A Life in Israel is harder in many ways.  We did not have a car, but the bus system is excellent. Life in Israel is harder, but simpler.  The culture is not as materialistic there.
 

Q Are you working on anything new?

A I am working on a series of portraits of my kids.
 

Q What would you say is your biggest influence?

A My biggest influences are all the great painters, especially Rembrandt and the impressionists.
 

  
 
 











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