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Born in 1989 in southern California, Rachel Ahlers moved to St. Louis when she was only two years old. At the age of four she created her first large scale work of art by drawing on her bedsheets when she determined that a simple piece of legal size paper would not suffice for what she had planned. Her parents’ anger upon finding this piece of art did not discourage her, and her dream of making art still lived when her family moved to a small Nebraska town when she was six. However, a kindergarten classmate informed her that “all the famous artists are dead,” and in dismay Rachel abandoned her desire to be an artist for several years. She always enjoyed drawing in her free time, but it was not until she was finally able to take a formal art class as a junior in high school that the dream was reignited. “You’re going to do something with art someday,” her teacher said prophetically one afternoon, and it was in that moment that Rachel realized that creating art was her true desire. She studied art for four years at Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska, acquiring her BFA in Studio Art in the spring of 2012. Shortly before her graduation, Rachel spent a brief week serving as a volunteer gallery assistant at the Norfolk Arts Center near her Nebraska hometown, giving her a taste of what it might be like to work in a gallery. She was able to be involved in much of the process of hanging their new show, and she realized she loved it. In August of that year she moved to Minneapolis, hoping that city life might offer her more opportunities to do similar work. She lives there now, making art and taking encouragement from remembering that even the “famous dead artists” had bumpy starts as she begins her career.

Education
2012 - BFA Studio Art, Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska

Awards
2011 - Best of Show, Concordia University Annual Student Art Exhibition, Marxhausen Gallery of Art, Seward, Nebraska
2008 - Best of Show, NFWC Norfolk Women's Club All-School Art Show, Norfolk, Nebraska

Exhibition history
2012 - Concordia Art Department Senior Thesis Exhibition, Marxhausen Gallery of Art, Seward, Nebraska
2012 - NICF Student Art Exhibition, O'Keefe Elevator Gallery, Omaha, Nebraska
2009-2012 - Concordia University Annual Student Art Exhibition, Marxhausen Gallery of Art, Seward, Nebraska
2007-2008 - NFWC Norfolk Women's Club All-School Art Show, Norfolk, Nebraska

I am nearly always open to taking commissions, and most of the art shown in this online gallery is available for purchase. For inquiries, please message me or email me at rachel.ahlers@cune.org.