Rose’s Visual Language Flows with Flora
Local artist Rachel Rose (Spengler) uses botanical forms, vines, and colorful leaves to shape her emotions and deal with her lupus diagnosis. She’s now preparing for her first show in Israel.
Artist Rachel Rose’s work has been described as “vulnerable, unsettling, seductive, complex, narrative, detailed, and vibrant,” mainly because she uses flowers, the natural world, and vivid colors to shape the range of her emotions.
She explained, “I instinctively turn to botanical forms — flowers, vines, leaves — as a visual language for what I’m experiencing. Flora has always felt like the most natural way for me to give shape to emotion. Flowers can stand in for people, moods, or memories. They carry such innate, anthropomorphic qualities — delicate, expressive, fleeting, and resilient.”
Her vines and weeds represent the more difficult or tangled parts of life, while blooms and bursts of color speak to joy, hope, or moments of beauty. This way of working began after the birth of her first child.
She related, “During those early days of motherhood, sketching became a lifeline. The vines came to symbolize the monotony, the weight of responsibility, the exhaustion. The petals and leaves captured the wonder and sweetness of caring for this new tiny human. Over time, this visual language has evolved alongside my life.”
More recently, it’s been a way for Rose to process living with lupus, a largely invisible illness which she likens to “the outer beauty of the forms remains, but underneath, there’s often pain, discomfort, and complexity. That contrast — the surface versus the internal — is something I explore again and again in my work. Nature, with all its beauty and messiness, has become the perfect metaphor.”
Rose’s primary medium is acrylic paint on canvas. She likes that acrylics dry quickly, which pushes her to work with more immediacy and purpose. She does extensive planning before even touching the canvas. First, she pulls directly from her daily sketchbook, choosing the compositions that feel ready for her to translate into larger works. She then begins with a quick under painting to “block in” the structure before diving fully in.
Before having children, she worked with oils but became more conscious of the chemicals and their potential effects, and switched to acrylics. She explained, “There’s less room for overworking or reworking a piece like you might with oils, which adds a certain pressure, but I’ve come to appreciate that.”
She uses Photoshop as a digital sketchpad for troubleshooting and experimenting with color before committing to paint. Her paintings aren’t heavily layered, but they are heavily detailed.
In the early stages of her career, she primarily exhibited in small group shows around Massachusetts. Over time, her work has gained traction and found a place in a wider variety of venues, both online and in-person. She’s been featured in Create, Art Seen, Friends of the Artist, and Women’s United magazines, books, online exhibitions, and group shows across the U.S. and internationally. Her work was exhibited in 19 Queen’s Gallery, Queensland, Australia. In 2023, she had a two-person show with Voltz Clarke Gallery in New York City, and last year, she had a solo show at The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach with the same gallery. This year, she’s preparing for her first show with Ze Arts Gallery, based in Tel Aviv.
Although her art “handle” is Rachel Rose, she was born Rachel Spengler (now married) Morrisey. Born in 1986 in Dorchester, Mass., she recalls constantly drawing, painting, coloring — always enrolled in art classes. Her parents have a house in the Berkshires, so weekends and summers were full of hiking, swimming, and exploring nature. That early connection to the natural world continues to influence her work. She earned a BFA from Indiana University in 2009, a post-baccalaureate degree in studio art at School of the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston in 2014, and an MFA from Mass Art 2016. She works from her home studio and can be seen playing pickleball at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta.
Examples of paintings for sale online are: “Delighted by Dahlia” ($7,200), “Viva Aviva” ($,4680), and “Flower Chutzpah” ($5,850). To see more of Rose’s works, please visit (Ze Arts) https://www.zearts.com/artist-page-2/rachelrose, (Artsy) https://www.artsy.net/artist/rachel-rose-1, or (Artsper) www.artsper.com/us/contemporary-artists/united-states/131199/rachel-rose.