Scavenger Deities

Rachel Schmidt
September 8 – October 22, 2023

Scavenger Deities 

Rachel Schmidt
September 8 – October 22, 2023
Opening reception on Friday, September 8 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Artist talk begins at 5:30 p.m.  

The Visual Arts Center of Richmond presents an exhibition of work by Washington, DC-based artist Rachel Schmidt and curated by Jayme McLellan, titled Scavenger Deities, in the True F. Luck Gallery. 

Scavenger Deities is a multi-media exhibition repurposing museum waste and discarded materials into intricate artworks about nature. In response to shared and personal trauma from a global pandemic, Schmidt leaned into her creative practice to transform waste into complex, layered works of sacred patterns and animal totems; transforming what might be discarded into intentional, invaluable works of transcendence and reflection. The galleries–divided into thematic spaces of loss, healing, and the possibilities of the future–examine ways to heal and adapt through lenses of animal protagonists whose natural abilities make them purveyors of wisdom and magic. 

Rachel Schmidt is an installation artist based in Washington, DC. She received her MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD. Rachel has worked as an artist-in-residence at the Arlington Arts Center, Taipei Artist Village, Vermont Studio Center, Taller Portobelo Norte in Panama, and Sabhal Mor Ostaig on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. She has exhibited internationally and throughout the U.S. including The Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building in Washington, DC, Spring Break Art Fair in New York, and GAIT LA project space in Los Angeles, CA. Rachel has also been notably reviewed in Sculpture Magazine, The Washington Post, ArtNews, Hyperallergic, and numerous other publications.  

Front image: Rachel Schmidt, Shaman Portrait: Twins, 2021, Scrap wood, vinyl, aircraft cable, and ink.