Rachel Frank
Rachel Frank is a sculptor and performance artist who explores the tensions between the natural world and the human-made, the animal and the political, and the past and the present. Frank is also a licensed wildlife rehabilitator specializing in the care of waterfowl and raptors. This intimate engagement with wildlife deeply informs her artistic practice. Working across sculpture, video, and performance, her work investigates the connections between non-human species that contribute to the protection, healing, and restoration of ecosystems. She utilizes materials such as bronze, glass, and clay—substances that undergo transformative processes of heating, melting, and liquefying before reaching their final forms. This transformative malleability mirrors the themes within her practice, which delve into the radical restoration of species and landscapes through "rewilding," the migratory movements of tidal and pelagic species, and the broader interconnections and exchanges between life forms.
Born and raised in Kentucky, Rachel Frank received her BFA from The Kansas City Art Institute and her MFA from The University of Pennsylvania. She is the recipient of grants from The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, and Franklin Furnace Archive. Residencies include Yaddo, Marie Walsh Sharpe, The Museum of Arts and Design, Skowhegan, the Innoko National Wildlife Refuge (Alaska), Franconia Sculpture Park, and MOCA, Tucson (AZ). Her performance pieces have been shown at HERE, Socrates Sculpture Park, The Select Fair, and The Bushwick Starr in New York City, The Marran Theater at Lesley University (MA), and at The Watermill Center in collaboration with Robert Wilson. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include MOCA Tucson (AZ), the SPRING/BREAK Art Show (NYC), Thomas Hunter Projects at Hunter College (NYC), Standard Space (Sharon, CT), and Geary Contemporary (NYC). She works in wildlife rehabilitation as staff at the Wild Bird Fund and is based in Brooklyn, NY.
