Rachel Cross   Kintsukuroi DARK   Banner 04

Falling in love with an artist's work is surrendering to the discovery of their soul.

Each piece is a foot print with remnants of their heart, mind and spirit, forever impressed into history. If you truly give yourself to finding where in that journey a particular piece belongs, then you step closer to understanding the artist. You begin to reveal traces of their soul.

As in your own life, there are eras in your journey, milestones. Artists mark their journey with the work they create. In some dark eras there may be fragmented pieces of themselves scattered in their works or writings. Other times the pieces may shine together cohesively in a poetic mosaic. Whatever the era, understanding artwork in the context of the artist's life is essential to appreciating its value.

The Dark

Betty Griffin Center   200wRachel Cross is emerging from an era of her darkest days as a survivor. No words can describe what that means except hers. One year later, she has courageously started writing and speaking openly about it. At first she came forward anonymously (as "R.C.") in an Old City Life Magazine article on Betty Griffin House, a charity organization that offers "protection and quality services for victims of Domestic Violence and their minor children and/or victims of Sexual Assault and their families of St. Johns County, FL." The article was published in the May 2017 issue, which you can read here.

150w   Old City Life Article   Safe Haven

The article gave her confidence to start speaking about her story in public. Shortly after it was published, Rachel was in City Bistro hanging her art during an open mic poetry and story telling event. She decided on the spur of the moment, inspired by the other stories being told, to get up and share the events of mother's day 2016 with everyone in the room. This was a totally unplanned happening but warmly recieved by all who listened. And then a bit later, she wrote a deeply personal rendition of her story in "Light After Dark" that goes into greater detail about the years of abuse and the circumstances that surrounded her life in darkness. 

The Light

Rachel Cross St. Augustine ArtistThe days that follow are a continuation in putting the pieces together and living life as a mother, an artist, business woman and survivor. These days are more than happy, they are a celebration of all that's been overcome to this point and all that will be accomplished beyond today.

We invite you to become a part of her art, her story and, as she has always insisted, to share your own vision of her art from your perspective, to create your own story from it.

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