By Michael Coughlin Jr.
Rachael Kulik, a local real estate broker, will display her art during this year’s rendition of Jamaica Plain Open Studios on Saturday, September 28, and Sunday, September 29, from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Insight Realty Group at 68 South Street. This will mark the first time Kulik, who went to MassArt, will present her art at the event, which allows artists to showcase their talents to the community. During her time at MassArt, Kulik focused on art education and had a studio concentration in painting. She talked about getting critiques from two different departments and how she disliked aspects of it.
“One thing that would happen at both all the time is a piece of art would come out of critique, and somebody would tell me what it was before I even had a chance to decide for myself, and for me, I guess that just always was a bit of a bummer,” said Kulik. “I just never liked anybody deciding the meaning of something for me.” Eventually, after taking a break from art, she started painting again and received encouragement from her coworkers and bosses to do more. Kulik described her work as abstract and mentioned that she uses tools like acrylic paint or watercolors. Her goal is for the art viewer to be able to interpret the work however they want.
“My goal when people see it is, I want them to make it their own. I want to encourage them to see what they want to see, to find what they want to find, let it mean whatever it means to them without any bias or context in the background,” she said. Moreover, Kulik talked about an intriguing way in which she displays her art: It is not hung in a particular direction, and often, the art is not even hung. It is put on easels so people can pick the pieces up, flip them upside down, and more. She also mentioned that she gives her works codes rather than titles, so it is a fresh start each time she creates a new piece.
“I just like to encourage the viewer to find their own meaning,” said Kulik, who talked about how fun it is to interact with people who see her work and hear about what they see and how it makes them feel. If you would like to check out some of Kulik’s work before her upcoming showing, visit her Instagram pages. One is art-focused—artbyraek—and the other is real estate-focused—rachaelkulik. To learn more about Jamaica Plain Open Studios and all of the art that will be on display around the neighborhood, visit https://jpopenstudios.com/. “It’s going to be a fun time,” said Kulik.