Rachel Brooks Richardson

You are the art.

That's the phrase I return to again and again with my workshop audiences, with my mural clients, and with myself. For me, art was never really about the finished piece. It's about the journey to get there: the calm that settles in when my hands are busy, the resilience that builds when I let go of the need to get it "right," and the quiet, intuitive self-discovery that happens somewhere between the first and last marks.

My path to this belief wasn't a straight line. Over the past two decades, I've built a career at the intersection of fine art, fashion, and design as Creative Director for various up-and-coming fashion startups, as the resident artist and designer for an NBA fashion brand, and as a muralist with more than 60 large-scale murals across the Bay Area for clients like Loveski Deli, Marfa Stance, Opus One, OneHotel, Oxbow Public Market, and Infinity Hotel by Hilton. My solo shows and exhibitions have been featured both in the U.S. and abroad, and my mural work has been profiled twice in The Press Democrat.

But it was becoming a mother that changed everything about not just how but why I continue to make art. In a world that increasingly pulls us toward screens, I found myself craving something else. I missed the time with my hands, the time in the analog world of drawing, painting, reading and writing. I noticed my daughter thrived most, behaviorally, emotionally, creatively, during our offline, present, hands-on time together. And I noticed the same shift in myself: less anxiety, more mental clarity, better mood, simply by making more room for analog creativity in my daily life and wellness practice.

That personal discovery, paired with years of independent research into the neuroscience of creativity, became the foundation for my therapeutic art practice. Today, I lead workshops and speaking engagements on Art as Wellness, Mindfulness and Art, The Art-Brain Connection, and the case for daily intuitive creativity. These workshops are designed to be accessible to anyone, even those that don't identify as artists. No art is experience necessary, just an open hand and an open mind. My workshops have been held at destinations including Stanly Ranch Auberge in Napa and MacArthur Place Hotel and Spa in Sonoma, and I'm a vocal advocate for keeping art and creative expression central to how we raise, educate, and care for ourselves and our children.

I live and work in Sonoma, California, where I continue to paint, teach, and champion the healing power of process over outcome.

If you are interested in purchasing work or collaborating, please send an email to hello@rachelbrooksartist.com.