Patricia RAIN Gianneschi
About the Artist
Visual Artist, Musician, Teacher, Gardener, Thinker, Activist, Mother, Wife, Sister, Daughter, Lover, Friend.
RAIN was born and raised in Chicago, and is an artist working across Poetics.
In her multimedia work, whether music or visual art, the intersection of social justice and spirituality is a thread that runs through all the disciplines of her work. As a teaching artist with students, from the classroom to the stage at the Art Institute of Chicago, she weaves a pedagogy with the same threads of spirituality and social justice.
Her paintings, prints and drawings going back over 35+ years represent an artistic practice rich in ideas, content, creativity and authenticity.
RAIN is currently a founding member of the art collective: MOTHER ART: REVISITED
Educated in the Arts at University of California, Berkeley. RAIN holds two degrees from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Master’s in Art Education, and a Master of Fine Arts. She has served as a teaching artist for the Chicago Public Schools for 22 years, and as adjunct faculty in Art Education at The School of the Art institute of Chicago.
Artist Statement
In my work, my desire is to bring the viewer into a space where they become open to the forces of imagination and spirit. I believe Art can transform us. I believe art can take us to a new awareness, create new sensations, and form. For me, the act of painting is an act of spiritual practice. I enter the painting with body and mind, searching for the images as I wander through the canvas.
In my effort to create an environment that would induce AWE, I have not yet abandoned the figure. I begin to unpaint the paintings, creating work that is more minimal, adding texture and hidden text to the work. These secret messages, these hidden words, parallel the silencing of our histories. In my desire to elicit a response from the viewer, I employ basic compositional elements of narrative, in abstraction, allowing the viewer to breath in color and form, allowing the viewer to form their own narrative, and thereby gain an insight into my investigation of the Spiritual in Art.
What are your “Treasured moments” & how do you connect it to your work?
THE DYING BIRCHES SERIES: Two self directed residencies at Ox-Bow, in Saugatuck Michigan, a cabin, and studio time in the beautiful print shop allowed me time, space, materials, and inspiration, treasured moments, as Ox-Bow always has for me been a place for creative growth. The beautiful white birches along the edge of the lagoon, have been a focus of my many different mediums during residencies and classes at Ox-Bow for over 30 years. The high water level of Lake Michigan has caused these non-native birches to drown in the high waters of the Ox-Bow lagoon. In their own way, the stark white linear forms on the landscape still inspire and cause the artist to pause, reflect, and create. Monotypes inspired by the landscape.
