Inscapes – Rachael Johnson at The Red Stables Gallery

Irish Artist Rachael Johnson returns to Dublin this month to present an exhibition of new work from her ‘Inscapes’ series at the Red Stables Gallery in Clontarf.  She describes ‘inscaping’ as a non-directive process: ‘the gradual application and manipulation of colour, line, form and scrap until an archetypal curve or hue, recalled from sensory memory begins to resonate, gradually making visibly familiar the connection between inner and outer worlds’. 

The artist left Ireland in 1980 to complete her Fine Arts Degree before travelling extensively worldwide and nurturing an interest in myth and symbol, as well as the use of art objects and images for healing purposes. She returned to Ireland in 1991 to work as a community artist on the Mural Squad and was often seen creatively tackling empty wall spaces around the inner city with a ladder, brush and buckets of paint in the days before muralists carried spray cans. During this time she also worked as an illustrator and graphic designer for a variety of publications in Dublin.

In 2008 Rachael completed a Masters in Art Therapy at CAD, Cork and is currently based in Derry working as a registered art therapist. She spends much of her free time painting in her late father’s studio in Fermanagh, where she enjoys creating objects and images with found, organic and scrap material, and playing with the phenomenon of pareidolia – the human tendency to seek meaning in drifting and elusive imagery, or ‘cloud reading’.