Meet Rachel Gisela Cohen

We recently connected with Rachel Gisela Cohen and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel Gisela, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

As an artist, I believe it is essential to look at art. During periods when I’m not making work, the most important thing I can do is seek it out. Living in New York City, I have the privilege of being immersed in the contemporary art world. When I need inspiration, some of my favorite things to do are cruising the Chelsea galleries, visiting museums, or spending time in a friend’s studio.

I also believe that sustaining creativity requires community. Having artist friends, people with whom to exchange ideas, challenge one another, and share work, is crucial to keeping creative energy alive. I have several close friends who are artists with whom I’ve curated exhibitions, and we make a point of visiting one another’s studios at least once a year. We met in graduate school, had studios next to each other, and now, nearly ten years later, we all still live in the city and continue the conversation we began then—making the effort to see each other’s work and remain deeply engaged in one another’s practices.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I am a contemporary artist, educator, and independent curator based in Brooklyn, New York. My practice spans painting and mixed media, and I am interested in themes of beauty, surface, and excess within contemporary culture. I often work with richly layered materials—such as fabric, paint, sequins, and beads—creating textured compositions that blur the boundaries between painting and textile.

My work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at venues such as Spring Break Art Show, the Armenia Art Fair, Pierogi Gallery’s The Boiler, and Hunter College Art Galleries. I hold an MFA in Painting and Drawing from Pratt Institute and a BA in Art History and Visual Arts from Drew University.

I have participated in residencies and fellowships from organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Constance Saltonstall Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, COPE NYC, and the Montclair Art Museum. In addition to my studio practice, I manage artist residency programs at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. I am also a faculty member at SVA and currently teach a course that blends floral design and visual arts.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Looking back, the three qualities that have most shaped my journey are gratitude, an endless appetite for learning, and a sense of humor.

Gratitude has grounded me through every stage of my practice. I’m deeply aware that making art is a privilege—one made possible by teachers who challenged me, peers who supported me, institutions that took chances on me, and friends who continue to show up for my work. Remembering this keeps me open, generous, and engaged rather than entitled or stagnant. My advice to artists early in their journey is to say thank you often, stay humble, and recognize that no one builds a practice alone. Relationships matter, and gratitude sustains them.

An endless appetite for knowledge has also been essential. I’ve never believed that being an artist means knowing everything already—quite the opposite. Curiosity has pushed me to keep looking at art, reading, asking questions, learning new materials, and remaining porous to ideas both inside and outside my field. For those just starting out, I’d say: be a student for as long as possible. Go see exhibitions, read widely, visit studios, and let yourself not know. Growth lives in that space.

Finally, a sense of humor has helped me survive the inevitable uncertainty, rejection, and absurdity of the art world. Not every show works, not every application lands, and sometimes things are just plain weird. Being able to laugh—at the process, at myself, and at the unpredictability of it all—has kept me resilient and able to keep going. My advice is to take your work seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

I make art.

There was a moment this past summer, during an artist residency in the Italian countryside, when that truth became unmistakably clear. My partner and I had flown across the world and driven to the residency on very little sleep. By the time we arrived, we were completely depleted. We collapsed for a few hours, and when we woke, everything seemed to unravel at once.

A jar of paint shattered, scattering glass across the floor. A sudden gust of wind rushed through the open window, sending the curtains airborne and nearly sweeping a full glass off the table. Wine spilled, glass broke, paint spread everywhere. I found myself cleaning up a surreal mixture of pigment, shards, and red wine, feeling untethered. I was overtired, in an unfamiliar place, and painfully aware of how little control I had.

Overwhelmed, I reached for the only thing that felt instinctively grounding: my partner’s sheet music and a set of colored pencils. I sat down and began to draw. It was the only action that made sense in that moment, the only way I could steady myself.

As I drew, a quiet realization surfaced—no wonder I make art. Although the act of making is often difficult, it is also one of the few things that truly anchors me. In moments of chaos, it offers a way back to myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rachelcohenstudio.com
• Instagram: @rachelcohenstudio
• Facebook: @rachelcohenstudio

Image Credits

The group shot is an image of my co-curators and me for the exhibition Interplay at SPRING BREAK Art Show NYC 2024. Their names are Yen Yen and Abby Cheney.