Barbara Rachko
New York, USA
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Barbara Rachko is an American contemporary artist, blogger, and author who divides her time between residences in New York City and Alexandria, VA. She is best known for her pastel-on-sandpaper paintings, her eBook, “From Pilot to Painter,” and her wildly popular blog, “Barbara Rachko’s Colored Dust,” which grows by 1,000 – 2,000 subscribers each month.
Barbara has led an extraordinary, inspiring life. She learned to fly at the age of 25 and became a commercial pilot and Boeing-727 flight engineer before joining the Navy. As a Naval officer, she spent many years working at the Pentagon and retired as a Commander. On 9/11 her husband, Dr Bryan C. Jack, was tragically killed on the plane that hit the Pentagon.
Barbara uses her large collection of Mexican and Guatemalan folk art – masks, carved wooden animals, paper mâché figures, and toys – to create one-of-a-kind pastel-on-sandpaper paintings that combine reality and fantasy and depict personal narratives. In 2017 she began work on a series called, “Bolivianos,” based on her stunning photographs of a mask exhibition seen at the Museum of Ethnography and Folklore in La Paz. Her pastel paintings are bold, striking, and powerful. For more than three decades, Barbara has been “Revolutionizing Pastel as Fine Art!” Barbara is represented by galleries in the United States and Europe, exhibits nationally and internationally, and has won many awards as a professional artist.
Selected Works
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
2018 Invitational Exhibition, NYC Phoenix Art, New York, NY
Fusion Art, Palm Springs, CA (online)
2011 “Barbara Rachko: The Black Paintings,” Gallery Gray, Minneapolis, MN
2009 “Barbara Rachko: Gods and Monsters,” HP Garcia Gallery, New York, NY
2008 “Out of the Black: Pastel Paintings and Photographs,” New Art Center, New York, NY; curated by Barbara MacAdam, deputy editor, ARTnews
Art at First, New York, NY
2007 “Gods and Monsters,” Capital One Art Gallery, McLean, VA
2006 Azarian McCullough Art Gallery, St. Thomas Aquinas College, Sparkill, NY
2005 Blackstone River Gallery, Woonsocket, RI
Artspace, Richmond, VA
“Scenes,” Crown Center Gallery, Loyola University, Chicago, IL
“Domestic Threats,” Joy Pratt Markham Gallery, The Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville, AR
2004 Edward Williams Gallery, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Hackensack, NJ
Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge, MA
“Domestic Threats,” Louise Jones Brown Gallery, Duke University, Durham, NC
2001 Olin Gallery, Roanoke College, Salem, VA
2000 La MaMa La Galleria, New York, NY
1999 “There is No Place Like Home,” Park Avenue Atrium, New York, NY; curated by Leah Poller, director, Art Alliance, New York, NY
1998 Broadway Windows, New York, NY
“There is No Place like Home,” Mercedes-Benz Manhattan ArtSpace, NYC; curated by Leah Poller
“Through the Window,” Doll-Anstadt Gallery, Burlington, VT
1996 “Monkey Business,” Brewster Arts Ltd., New York, NY (two-person show)
479 Gallery, New York, NY
Watchung Art Center, Watchung, NJ
School 33 Art Center, Baltimore, MD
1995 Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY
Howard County Community College, Columbia, MD
1993 Cunneen-Hackett Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA
1992 Capitol Hill Art League, Washington, DC
Group exhibitions
2020 Winter Salon Online Exhibition, Galleri SoHo, Vasteras, Sweden
“Lucid Dreaming,” Outlander Gallery, Jersey City, NJ
First International Online Exhibition, Galleri SoHo, Vasteras, Sweden
“September 2020: Peacock,” Sacrosanct Gallery, Naples, FL (online)
“23rd Annual Community Art Jam,” Hudson Guild, New York, NY (online)
2019 “Worlds Seen & Unseen,” Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY
2018 “Art Without Borders,” Madison, NH
“Mystical Forces,” Salomon Arts, New York, NY Emillions, Naples, FL
2017 “Blk Clok,” Art Basel, Reach Brickell City Centre, Miami, FL; represented by Emillions, Naples, FL
Miami River Art Fair, Miami, FL; represented by Dr. Barbara Aust-Wegemund, Art Historian
Art Below Regent’s Park, London, England
Le Dame Gallery, London, England
ARTROOMS, Melia White House Hotel, Regent’s Park, London, England
2016 Old Truman Brewery, London, England
Art Below and Gallery Orange, New Orleans, LA
2015 Art Busan, Korea, represented by Space 776, Brooklyn, NY
Affordable Art fair, Hong Kong; represented by Space 776, Brooklyn, NY
James Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Betty Dare Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
2014 Aqua Art Miami, The Aqua Hotel, Miami Beach, FL; represented by Space 776, Brooklyn, NY
Perkins Center for the Arts, Collingswood, NJ (three person exhibition)
“Age of Innocence,” Studio 5404, Massapequa, NY
James Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Betty Dare Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
2013 James Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Betty Dare Art Gallery, Chicago, IL,
2012 “Art to the Point,” Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY; selected by Donald Sultan
MUSECPMI, New York, NY
James Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Betty Dare Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
Longstreth Goldberg, Naples, FL
2011 “Pandemonium: Inaugural Preview Exhibition,” The New York Center of Photography and the Moving Image, New York, NY
James Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Longstreth Goldberg, Naples, FL
“Bazar,” Betty Dare Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
2010 HP Garcia Gallery, New York, NY
“Artists for Haiti,” Contemporary Art Network, auction in support of Doctors Without Borders for Haitian earthquake relief
“Pulp Friction,” James Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
“Past Forward,” Target Gallery, Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA (four-person show)
“Define: Art,” Betty Dare Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
Longstreth Goldberg, Naples, FL
2009 Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation award winners, Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York, NY
Rogue Space, New York, NY
Artexpo, Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York, NY; Artisan Direct, Pittsford,NY
Longstreth Goldberg, Naples, FL
Hudson Gallery, Sylvania, OH
ArtHaus, San Francisco, CA
1212 Gallery, Burlingame, CA
2008 “Timeless: The Art of Drawing,” Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
CANcer, New Art Center, New York, NY
“Modes of Expression,” Deloitte and Touche, New York, NY
ReynoldsWolfe, Center 44, New York, NY
“Animals in Your Kingdom,” Micro Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ; curated by Carter Foster, curator, department of drawings, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Artwell Gallery, Torrington, CT
Hudson Gallery, Sylvania, OH
Hefton-Page Fine Art, Blue Ridge, GA
Longstreth Goldberg, Naples, FL
“Figurative Works by Gallery and Guest Artists,” “Outward Appearances,” and “About Face,” ArtHaus, San Francisco, CA
1212 Gallery, Burlingame, CA
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
2020 Making a documentary on Barbara’s life and work
Exclusive representation in Sweden with Galerie SoHo, Vasteras, Sweden
Listed with Galleria Balmain, London
Listed on 1stDibs with Emillions, Naples, FL
Interview “The Heroine’s Journey of Barbara Rachko” (See Bibliography)
Updated Studio slide show at barbararachko.art
BarbaraRachkosColoredDust blog reached 69K subscribers
2019 “Exclusive Interview with Barbara Rachko by Paula Soito,” 18 pages, July 2019 # 44 “Art Market” (See Bibliography)
2018 “Barbara Rachko – USA,” Galleria Banditto blog, Montefollonico, SI, Italy.
Interview in Los Tiempos, Cochabamba, Bolivia. (See bibliography)
“Barbara Rachko – From Pentagon to Painter,” interview with Elisa Pritzker for ABC latino Magazine. (See bibliography)
“Meet Trailblazer Barbara Rachko,” interview with VoyageMIA, Miami, FL.
Invitational Exhibition, NYC Phoenix Art, New York, NY
Artist’s Talk with Barnaby Ruhe at Salomon Arts Gallery, New York, NY
Listed on Artsy with Fusion Art, Palm Springs, CA
2017 “From Pilot to Painter” (eBook) available on iTunes
Listed on Artsy with Emillions Art, Naples, FL
2016 Represented by Gallerique, Chicago, IL
2015 Website redesigned and translated into Spanish and Portuguese for the South American audience
Listed on Artsy with Space 776, Brooklyn, NY
Winner, AIR Gallery Studio Visit Lottery, Brooklyn, NY
2014 Published first eBook, “From Pilot to Painter,” on Amazon
Interviewed by Brainard Carey for Yale Radio WYBC
Wikipedia bio published
First listing on Artsy, Tabla Rasa, Brooklyn, NY
2013 Selected for a fellowship to the New York School of Art Independent Study Program
2012 A Grant from the Templar Trust, Liechtenstein for a monograph, published by MUSECPMI, New York, NY
2011 Nominated for the Freedom to Create Prize, Singapore
2010 Grants from The Templar Trust, Liechtenstein, and the Midtown West Arts Association, New York, for a solo exhibition at H P Garcia Gallery, New York, NY
2009 Award Winner, Lenore Sagan Visual Arts Awards, Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation, New York, NY Grants from The Templar Trust, Liechtenstein, and the Midtown West Arts Association, New York, NY, for a solo exhibition at H P Garcia Gallery, New York, NY
2007 CAN Fellowship Recipient, Contemporary Art Network, New York, NY; selected by Barbara MacAdam, deputy editor, ARTnews
2000 Chosen for the inaugural class, “Emerge2000,” Aljira, Newark, NJ; selected by Richard Klein, assistant director, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
