Rachel Cope: Realms Beyond the Visible

Rachel Cope’s paintings explore themes of transformation, fragility, and the interplay of light and form. Rooted in liminal spaces between reality and illusion, her compositions weave together recurring motifs, holographic effects, and imagined ethereal landscapes. Each work is anchored by elements of the natural world, creating realms suspended between memory and vision—where the boundaries between physicality and spirituality, interior and exterior, dissolve.

Central to Cope’s visual language is the motif of the prism, refracting light into spectral fragments that suggest unseen dimensions of human experience. Faces and figures emerge and recede within these dreamlike spaces, as fluid and elusive as identity and emotion. Swans glide through the compositions, embodying grace, vulnerability, and a reverence for nature. The shifting notion of home is explored through abstracted dwellings, shelters, and thresholds—spaces that feel both familiar and otherworldly.

Drawing from her background in sculpture and Art Therapy, Cope’s mastery of materiality is evident in each painting. Working with acrylic and pencil on clay coated panels, she layers translucent washes of pigment over finely drawn lines, creating works that seem to emit their own inner light. Iridescent surfaces catch and shift with changing perspectives, infusing each piece with a sense of presence and impermanence. Inspired in part by the spiritual and esoteric philosophies of Rudolf Steiner, Cope’s paintings seek to balance structure and fluidity, inviting viewers to contemplate the delicate interplay between the tangible and the transcendent.

Rachel Cope holds a BFA in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MPS in Art Therapy from the School of Visual Arts. In 2024, she completed a residency with The Villa Lena Foundation.  Her work has been exhibited at KDR305, Internationally at Galerie DYS, Roll & Hill Gallery, Friedman Benda, The Future Perfect, and Egg Collective. She has also participated in leading design fairs such as Design Miami, Salone del Mobile, and Maison et Objet, and her work is part of the permanent collection of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

Cope’s practice has been featured in Architectural Digest, Business of Home, Coveteur, Curbed, Dwell, Elle Decor, Forbes, Galerie, Interior Design, Livingetc, Mother Tongue Magazine, The New York Times, Veranda, and Wallpaper Magazine, among others.

In addition to her artistic practice, Cope is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Calico Wallpaper, a design studio dedicated to integrating artistic expression into interior spaces. She lives and works in Ghent, NY.