About

About Rachel

Rachel Brumer is a Northwest fiber artist with studios in Seattle and Lopez Island. Originally from Oakland, California, Brumer received her BFA from Mills College. She is known for her rich layering of textures, and ever evolving language of shapes. Utilizing Van Dyke printed photography, thread, ink, dye, and wax, Brumer rubs, embroiders, silkscreens, drips, quilts, draws, and appliqués.

Before pursuing fine art, Rachel Brumer spent many years touring the country as a professional modern dancer, and later worked as an interpreter of American Sign Language. No stranger to alternative modes of expression, Brumer is a fierce believer in non-verbal experience and the power of art.

Her work in fiber began as a vehicle to commemorate a friend lost to AIDs, the medium and process serving as a way to involve loved ones of the departed. Community and remembrance remain motivating forces behind Brumer’s intricate fiber work.

Profile

Born – Oakland, California
B.F.A. – Mills College 1978
Professional modern dancer 1978 – 1987
Interpreter American Sign Language 1988 – 1990
Studio artist since 1990

Selected Exhibitions

2023: You know that place? Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA; Louisiana Art and Science Museum, Baton Rouge, LA
2020: Featured Artist, Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA; Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, ID; Annual Group Show, Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA
2019: The Vatican Gallery at Studio e Gallery, Seattle, WA; Annual Group Show, Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA; Waterworks Gallery, Friday Harbor, WA
2018: Annual Group Show, Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA
2017: Featured Artist, Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA
2016: Annual Group Show, Rovzar Gallery; “Ornaments of the Night,” Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
2015: “Accreted Terrane”, Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA; “Adaptations”, Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA; “Annual Group Show”, Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA; “Extreme Fibers”, Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MI; “Extreme Fibers”, Dennos Museum Center Traverse City, MI; “West Coast Fiber”, Santa Rosa Art Museum, Santa Rosa, CA
2014: “Quilt Visions Biennial 2014,” Visions Art Museum, San Diego, CA; “Group Show,” Grover/Thurston, Seattle, WA; “Group Show,” Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, ID; “Group Show,” Old West Museum, Cheyenne, WY
2013: Window Installation, Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Seattle, WA; “Fiberart International ’13,” Pittsburgh, PA; “Quilt National, ’13,” The Dairy Barn, Athens, OH; “drawn in,” Anchor Art Space, Anacortes, WA; “Moveable Type,” Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
2012: “Partial Floor Plans of a Country of a World,” Art Lending Library, Seattle, WA; “Introduction,”” Andria Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, Idaho; “Soft Focus,” Columbia City Gallery, Seattle, WA; “Group Show,” Grover/Thurston Gallery, Seattle, WA; “Journeys,” Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Seattle, WA; “Secrets and Stories,” Visions Art Gallery, San Diego, CA
2011: “Textiles Tieton, Fresh Threads,” Mighty Tieton Warehouse, Tieton, WA; “Traces, Mapping a Journey in Textiles,” Gregg Museum, Raleigh, North Carolina; “And I give you one hundred, one thousand,” Grover/Thurston Gallery, Seattle, WA
2010: “Visions,” Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA; “Artist Sketchbooks,” Grover/Thurston Gallery, Seattle, WA
2009: “John M Walsh III Collects,” San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA; “Wonderful World of Quilts,” Jupiter Arts Center, Centralia, WA; “Contemporary Quilts,” Columbus Cultural Arts Center, Columbus, OH
2008: “What a World,” Grover/Thurston Gallery, Seattle, WA; “Visions,” Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA; “Bloodlines,” University Art Gallery, University of Indiana, Terre Haute, IN; “Surface Design,” Ross Art Museum, Delaware, Ohio
2007: “Preview,” Upstairs Gallery, Grover/Thurston Gallery, Seattle, WA; “Quilts=Art=Quilts,” Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Auburn, NY; “Evolution of the Art Quilt,” Washington State History Museum, Tacoma, WA; “Introductions,” Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Seattle, WA; “Coming of Age,” Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seattle, WA; “Building Tradtion,” Whatcom Museum of History & Art, Bellingham, WA
2006: “Drawing in the New Year: Exploring Ancestory and Memory at the Jewish New Year,” Columbia City Gallery, Seattle, WA; “12 Artists on Today’s Farms,” Maryhill Museum of Art, Goldendale, WA; “Biannual Northwest Contemporary Quilt Invitational,” American Art Company, Tacoma, WA
2005: “Textile Works,” Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH; “Inaugural Art Exhibition,” Lynnwood Convention Center, Lynnwood, WA; “Quire: Book of Findings,” Evergreen State College Galleries, Olympia, WA
2004: “Slumber, The Nights,” Cultural Development Authority, Seattle, WA; “Building Tradition: Gifts in Honor of the Northwest Collection,” Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA; “Northwest Biennial: Building Wise,” Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA; Traditional to Conceptual, Bruce Gallery, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania; Contemporary Art Quilts, Elgin Community College, Elgin, IL; “Biannual Northwest Contemporary Quilt Invitational,” American Art Company, Tacoma, WA
2003: “Quire: Book of Findings,” Society for Contemporary Photography, Kansas City, MO; “Quilt National ’03,” The Dairy Barn, Athens, OH; “Contemporary Art Quilts,” Safety- Kleen Gallery, Elgin, IL
2002: “Crafts National 36,” Zoller Gallery, Penn State University, University Park, PA; “Book Forms, American Art Company, Tacoma, WA; “6th Northwest Contemporary Quilt Invitational,” American Art Company, Tacoma, WA
2001: “Sewn: Documents Northwest,” Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; “Pattern By Definition,” Texas Women’s University, Denton, TX; “Cover Them: A Quilt Installation” (solo exhibition), Holocaust Museum Houston, Houston, TX; “Hanging by a Thread,”” Northern Arizona University Gallery, Flagstaff, AZ; “Contemporary Art Quilts,” University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, KY
2000: “Artist as Quiltmaker IX,” FAVA, Oberlin, OH; “Phresh,” Pacific Northwest Arts Council, Bumbershoot, Seattle Center, Seattle, WA; “Biannual Northwest Contemporary Quilt Invitational,” American Art Company, Tacoma, WA
1999: “Voices of the Diaspora,” Ryland-Bowe Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; “Cover Them: A Quilt Installation” (solo exhibition), Betty and Milton Katz Gallery, Cherry Hill, NJ; “Fiberart International,” Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA; “Pacific Northwest Annual,” Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA; “The Inquisitive Object,” Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, Portland, OR; “5th Northwest Contemporary Quilt Invitational,” American Art Company, Tacoma, WA
1998: “4th Northwest Contemporary Quilt Invitational,” American Art Company, Tacoma, WA; “Artist as Quiltmaker VIII,” FAVA, Oberlin, OH; “The View From Here: 100 Artists Mark the Centennial of Mt Rainier National Park” – traveled to Yakima Valley Museum of Art, Yakima, WA; Seatac International Airport, Main Concourse, Seatac, WA; Fujinomiya Shimin Bunka Kaikan, Citizen’s Cultural Center, Shizuoka-ken, Japan; Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA; “Cover Them: A Quilt Installation,” Yeshiva University Museum, New York, NY; “Recent Work,” Nancy Sachs Gallery, St. Louis, MO; “On the Edge: NW Quilt Art,” University of British Columbia Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1997: “Nontraditional Quilts” (solo exhibition), Contemporary Crafts Gallery, Portland, OR; “Cover Them: A Quilt Installation” (solo exhibition), King County Art Gallery, Seattle, WA; “Quilt National 1997,” The Dairy Barn, Athens, OH; traveled to West Bend Art Museum, West Bend, WI; Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR; “Quilts in Reformation,” Seafirst Gallery, Seattle, WA; “On the Edge: NW Quilt Art,” Museum of the American Quilter’s Society, Paducah, KY; traveled to University of British Columbia Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC; “Quilt Expo VI,” Innsbruck, Austria
1996: “Recent Work” (solo exhibition), Cunningham Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; “Textile as Narrative/Ritual,” ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL; “Improvisations ’96,” The Gallery at Studio B, Lancaster, OH, 1996; “3rd Invitational Contemporary Quilt Show,” American Art Company, Tacoma, WA; “The Painted Table” (solo exhibition), The Alexis Art Space, Seattle, WA; “Crafts National 30,” Zoller Gallery, Penn State University, University Park, PA; “Visions 1996: Quilt Art,” Museum of San Diego, San Diego, CA; “Nonstop Northwest,” American Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA; “Fiber Artists in Washington D.C.,” Offices of Senator Patty Murray, Washington D.C.; “Drinking From The Well: Jewish Artists,” Washington Trade and Convention Center, Seattle, WA
1995: “Domestic Bliss,” Bumbershoot, Seattle Center, Seattle, WA; “The Art Quilt: Celebrating Women’s Visions and Energies,” R.I.T., Rochester, NY; “Quilt National 1995,” The Dairy Barn, Athens, OH; “Art Quilts” (solo exhibition), Seattle University, Seattle, WA; “Craft America ’95,” Silvermine Guild Arts Center, New Canaan, CT; “Diversity! Studio Art Quilts Associates,” Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN, 1995; “Contemporary Northwest Art Quilts,” Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA; traveled to Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT; “The Essential Textile,” Guilford Handcraft Center, Guilford, CT; “Fiberart International ’95,” Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA; “Art Quilts” (solo exhibition), Mercer Hood Gallery, Seattle, WA; “Pacific Northwest Annual,” Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA; “Piecing It All Together,” Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA; “New Work: Methods, Makers, Meanings,” Washington Trade and Convention Center, Seattle, WA; “Fabric Art: Innovative Quilts,” North Seattle Community College, Seattle, WA; “Artist as Quiltmaker VI,” FAVA, Oberlin, OH
1994: “The Art of the Quilt,” Washington Center for the Performing Arts, Olympia, WA

Honors

2013: Fiberart International Award
2010: Surface Design Award, Quilt Visions
2009: Artist Trust Artist Fellowship; Jentel, Artist Residency Program, Banner, Wyoming
2007: Quilts=Art=Quilts, Juror’s Award
2004: 4Culture, Special Projects Award
2003: Quilt National, Juror’s Award
2000: Artist Trust Gap Grant
1999: Fiberarts International Best of Show, Narrative Category, Pittsburgh, PA; Galeria Mesa, Body of Work Award, Piecework
1997: Artist Trust Gap Grant

Professional and Related Experience

2018–Present
Teaching Artist, Path with Art, Seattle, WA

2017–2016
Artist in Residence, Seattle Housing Authority, Yesler Terrace, with Pat Graney CO, Seattle, WA

2013–2010
Keeping the Faith, Artist in Residence, Pat Graney Company, Mission Creek Correctional Facility, Belfair, Washington

2011
Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Visual Art: And I give you one hundred, one thousand, with Rachel Brumer
Presentation for Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute

2009
Juror, Contemporary Quiltart Associates

2008
Program speaker, Contemporary Quiltart Associates

2006
Grant reviewer, Seattle Arts Commission

2004
Program speaker, Contemporary Quiltart Associates

1999–2004
Artist Lecture Series program director, TOPS Middle School

Selected Collections

Lifepoint Hospitals, Nashville, TN
University Of Washington, Medical Center
Swedish Hospital, Seattle, WA
Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Courthouse Portable Works Purchase, Seattle, WA
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
University of Washington, Special Collections, Seattle, WA.
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA.
Museum of Arts and Design, formerly American Craft Museum, New York, NY.
Seattle Arts Commission, Portable Works, Seattle, WA.
Washington State Arts Commission, Art in Public Places Program, Olympia, WA: Oakville, Vancouver, Bellingham School Districts.
Legacy Emanuel Hospital, Portland, OR.
Harborview Hospital, Cultural Heritage Award, Seattle, WA.
Children’s Receiving Center, Portland, OR.
The Brakensiek Collection of Contemporary Quilts, Los Angeles, CA.
The John M. Walsh III Collection, Martinsville, NJ.
YWCA Transitional Housing, Seattle, WA

Press

2014

Artist: Rachel Brumer of Seattle, Washington, USA, World of Threads Festival, Gareth Bate and Dawne Rudman.
View Article

Fan Mail: Rachel Brumer, DAILY SERVING, February 14.
View Article

2006

Craft and Concept: The Rematerialization of the Art Object: “Patterning the Past, Rachel Brumer and Isabel Kahn,”

pages 351–355, Matthew Kangas, Midmarch Arts Press.

Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine, John Walsh III, page 33, Passionate Patron of the Art Quilt, New York, NY January/ February.

2005

Artisan Northwest, page 24, Greener Pastures, Enumclaw, Washington, Fall.

2004

Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine, Five Decades of Unconventional Quilts, page 53, New York, NY, November.

Seattle Weekly, page 68, January 28–Feburary 3.

2003

Surface Design Journal, pages 36–41, Sebastapol, CA, Winter.

Quilt National, page 24, Lark Books and The Dairy Barn, Southeastern Cultural Center.

2002

Quilt Mania, pages 110–113, St. Etienne de Montlue, France, January.

2001

Houston Chronicle, pages 1D, 3D, Houston, TX, September 27.

Jewish Herald-Voice, page 18, Houston, TX, September 19.

PBS, “Weekday,” Houston, TX, October 30.

The News Tribune, “TGIF,” cover, pages 3, 6, Tacoma, WA, November 2.

KHWB, “Outlook Houston,” Houston, TX, November 4.

Seattle Weekly, Seattle, WA, March 29.

2000

Fiberarts Magazine, “The Creative Process,” page 8, Altamount Press, November/December.

Art/Quilt Magazine, #11, pages 35–37, 62, Houston, TX, Spring.

1999

Judaic Artisans Today: Contemporary Judaica in the United States and Those Who Created It, pages 138–139, Flower Valley Press, Gaithersburg, MD.

1998

American Craft Magazine, “Portfolio,” page 57, American Craft Council, December/January.

1997

Fine Art Quilts: Work by Artists of the Contemporary Quilt Association, pages 12–14, Fiber Studio Press.

The Art Quilt, pages 13, 223, Hugh Lauter Levin Associates,.

Quilt National, page 97, Lark Books and The Dairy Barn Southeastern Cultural Arts Center,.

1996

Fiberarts Magazine, “Profile,” page 23, Altamount Press, November/December.

Visions: Quilt Art, page 45, C&T Publishing, Lafayette, CA.

1995

Art/Quilt Magazine, #4, page 28, Houston, TX, Fall.

Fiberarts Design Book Five, page 145, Lark Books.

Quilt National, page 77, Lark Books and The Dairy Barn Southeastern Cultural Arts Center.

Quilting International, #40, page 39, Newton, NJ, March.

1994

Visions: Quilts, Layers of Excellence, pages 35, 54, C&T Publishing; Lafayette, CA.