Rachel Hayes

Rachel Hayes was born in Kansas City, Missouri and lives and works in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hayes received her BFA in Fiber from the Kansas City Art Institute, and her MFA in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University. Often using fabric to create large-scale work, she is interested in inserting color and form into both built and natural environments.  

She is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Award in Painting and Sculpture, Augustus Saint-Gaudens Memorial Fellowship in Sculpture, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Fellowship in Sculpture, Virginia Commission for the Arts Fellowship in Sculpture, and a Charlotte Street Fund Award. Hayes has attended the Marie Walsh Sharpe Space Program, New York, NY; Sculpture Space Residency, Utica, NY; Art Omi International Artists’ Residency, Ghent, NY; Roswell Artist-in-Residence program in Roswell, NM; and the Tulsa Artist Fellowship in Tulsa, OK.  

She has exhibited her work at institutions including the Sculpture Center in New York City, NY; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV;  Fruitlands Museum & deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, MA; Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, KS; Roswell Museum of Art, Roswell, NM; Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish, NH, and at galleries such as Lowell Ryan Projects, Los Angeles, CA; Marinaro, New York, NY; Bravin Lee Programs, New York, NY; and ADA Gallery, Richmond, VA. Hayes has collaborated with the Italian fashion house Missoni on four projects, culminating with a solo exhibition during Milan Design Week. Recently, she exhibited site-specific installations with ISTANBUL74 during the 16th Contemporary Istanbul, in Turkey and at NOMAD in Capri, IT. Her installation “Someday When We Are Dreaming” is currently up in the atrium at the Nevada Museum of Art through 2025. Her work has been covered by The New Yorker, The New York Times, Architectural Digest, Vogue, The Cut, LA Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Boston Art Review and Artforum among others.