Rebecca Blaske
Rebecca Blaske grew up as a homeschooler, an experience that shaped both her relationship to time and to making. While she notes that homeschooling may have limited certain social experiences, she emphasizes the freedom it provided. Much of her childhood was spent drawing for long stretches at home, developing focus and familiarity with materials through repetition. Her father, a former graphic design artist, played an important role during this period, offering informal lessons and passing along practical artistic knowledge whenever he could.
That sense of continuity was disrupted when Blaske entered public school in ninth grade. Adjusting to a structured academic environment pulled her attention away from art, and although she continued to draw occasionally, she began to view it as secondary to more “practical” pursuits. She assumed that art could not coexist with academic success and set it aside as she focused on preparing for college. This mindset followed her into higher education until she enrolled in a drawing class as an elective. That course marked a turning point. For the first time, she encountered art as something that could be practiced seriously and sustained into adulthood. Seeing an art professor living as a working artist made that possibility tangible, and soon after, she changed her major to art. Since then, she describes each step in that direction as feeling increasingly aligned.
Blaske’s work is driven by an attraction to physical texture and tactile experience, which has led her toward textiles as a central interest. She is drawn to fabric not only for its material qualities but for its ability to carry memory, cultural reference, and personal meaning. The tactile nature of textiles allows her to engage both physically and emotionally with her work, grounding abstract ideas in sensation.
Much of her inspiration comes from digital spaces and grassroots creative communities. She describes the internet not only as a source of reference but as a place of participation and belonging. In parallel, DIY music scenes have had a strong influence on her recent work. Attending local shows has heightened her interest in capturing collective energy, whether through people, sound, or atmosphere, and translating that immediacy into visual form.
For Blaske, fulfillment comes from self-surprise and self-recognition. She is motivated by the desire to create work she wants to encounter herself, measuring progress by her ability to meet her own expectations rather than external validation.
She is currently working on a series of paintings centered on an abandoned house discovered by a friend in the woods several years ago. The site left a lasting impression on her, evoking a feeling that lingered long after each visit. Since the house has been demolished, the project has become a way to preserve both the memory of the place and the unanswered questions it held.
