MYC 2007 Queen's Kedge.pub - Maryland Yacht Club

Rachel Holmes Crusan
Queen of the Chesapeake
1948
Rachel Holmes Cruzan was first educated
in art by nature. Growing up in rural
Northeastern Maryland, Rachel watched
the changes in color, texture and perspective
brought about by each change in season.
She learned about the subtleties of
color gradation, and the differences in
flora and fauna that occurred four times a year. As a child she had a natural interest in all things
artistic. She loved to crank out designs on sheets of paper from the family's manual spectograph.
"Art has always been fun for me," she says. Rachel loved music and words and grew to
be an accomplished writer, as well as a prolific and talented artist.
While studying for her Masters degree in Liberal Arts at Johns Hopkin University in Maryland,
Rachel reveled in her Art History classes and learned a great deal from spending time at the
Baltimore Museum of Art, conveniently located next door to the university campus, and at the
Walters Art Gallery in downtown Baltimore. As a teacher, Rachel used her artistic talents to
bring visual media to her language arts classroom. In so doing she was able to bring the written
word to life for her students.
As a commercial artist, Rachel learned how to translate her artistic talent into marketable mediums
while developing newspaper, magazine and billboard advertising.
Rachel always painted things she liked from people to trains, landscapes to florals and seascapes.
In so doing she has become highly skilled at turning two dimensional photographs into
three dimensional paintings that bring the subjects to life in a meaningful and memorable way.
France and Italy added artistic perspective to Rachel's arsenal of skills. Spending time in
Europe's art galleries and seeing the Masters on display expanded her ideas on various painting
techniques.
One of Rachel's daughters says that Rachel's paint choices parallel her life. During dark times,
she paints in muted and darker hues. When life is joyful, that joy is reflected in the vibrant colors
Rachel chooses.
Today, Rachel lives near the ocean in Northeast Florida and enjoys painting the seascapes,
landscapes, flora and fauna of the region as well as portraits. Her art is displayed at a variety of
area art shows and she teaches watercolor painting in the area. Rachel welcomes the opportunity
to paint commissioned pieces