SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome to Between the Threads, a podcast exploring the threads that connect us: story, memory, identity, and meaning, and how they weave the fabric of peace in our lives and communities. Between the Threads is a joint initiative between Kahani and Narratives. Kahani is a nonprofit organization that amplifies storytelling for peace building. And Narratives is an award-winning planning and design firm based in Winnipeg, Canada. Welcome to the next episode of Between the Threads. On today's episode, we have Rachel. Rachel Lancaster is a Winnipeg-based self-taught artist known for her vibrant, bold creations ranging from canvas art and murals to custom furniture and large-scale pieces. With over 10 years of experience, Rachel brings color, creativity, and personality into every space she touches. Hi, Rachel.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Hi.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 1:03

I'm good. Yeah. Happy to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

I love that you still have paint on you.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Yeah, fresh.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Fresh. Fresh.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Just got off the wall.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Perfect. So we like to ask our guests what they were like when they were little? What was little Rachel like?

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Are we allowed to say a little weird? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Okay, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

I was a little weird. I was well, how little are we going? You decide. Um so when I was really little, I wanted to be an archaeologist. Oh I know different from what I'm doing now, although very cool. Yeah, and so I spent a lot of time. We had a field, like we I grew up on a farm and like 200 cows. At one point we had chickens in the middle of nowhere. And so I was a country girl through and through. And I um I spent a lot of I spent a lot of time scavenging for animal bones. Wow. Hence the archaeologist. Yes, yeah. So I I did and I did my best to preserve them. So I would like that. But I I I I would clean them and then I would bleach them and I would mount them on little placards and stuff. Um and I had a Do you still have these? No. I wish I did. I have a lot of like the I so and then I carried around in my purse um a little like Hershey's. Well, Hershey's Kiss did this one thing, I guess, a long time. They filled like a little part or a little kiss-shaped container filled with kisses, I suppose. But anyways, I had the container that looked like a Hershey's Kiss. And inside of it, there was like bones and animal teeth and stuff that my favorite. Oh, and I carried that around in my purse with me. Um, and and yeah, so I that's the only thing I actually still have.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

And but otherwise, yeah, it's all kind of gone, lost. But and and then when I got a little older, like now I'm talking like teenage kind of maybe I was like 11. Um, my dad that we had a shed on the property that my dad kept like old motors and stuff in and some of the bikes and stuff, and he let me take all of that out and renovate the shed. So I painted it. I put in like I spent all of my allowance money on like flooring and um I collected like wood from my dad had a construction company. So I would like went, I was allowed during the summertime to go to the construction company. I collected all like the plywood. This is a really I love it. Okay, it's so quirky. It's beautiful. Quirky, yes, quirky, great word. Um, so I collected all the wood and then I I like paneled the wall because it was just like bare.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

My dad had collected, and then I used the plywood and I like pieced it. It literally looked like a puzzle, like pieced together. And I painted the walls. And my dad helped me build like a bunk bed, and I slept in there for most summers, like until I was a full teenager, like 16. My brother was uh he had um, he went to uh, I don't know, metals. I don't really know, I don't remember. Uh, but he was in metals in school and he built this fireplace that I swear I'm I it's crazy that I'm still alive because he built this little metal fireplace and that's how I kept warm. But you could only put like little pieces of wood at a time into the fireplace, and then it went up to like tubing that you basically would like dryer. That's how it vented out, but like that super hot. Like I'm amazed it didn't catch on fire and burn. But I'm here, I'm still alive. Um, so that's how I I would like wake up at like two in the morning and climb down the little bunk bed and like restoke the fire because it would be freezing cold. And wow. And I slept in there until a bird got in and it and went into my covers. Story's just going crazy. All right, so the bird flew in at one point. Well, I guess I left the window open for ventilation and a bird flew in, and I I'm not I didn't wasn't afraid of birds up until this point, but then I climbed into bed. There's no lights, right? So I had power. So I climbed into bed and I like pulled my covers up. And this bird was under the covers and I it couldn't get out, and I couldn't get out, and I was stuck in this little and it was just attacking me, just pecking and pecking and pecking. I was all over my body, just I was I was didn't know what I was fighting because it was like in the dark, and I was what the and I was just swinging my arms and then um uh I killed, unfortunately, yes, the bird did pass because I had a fly splatter up there because like you do, of course, you do because there were so many flies, so I had to sleep with the fly splatter, but I did kill the bird and I didn't know what it was until I got it outside and I could like lay it on the grass, and it was like quite a big was all like almost the size of a crow, but it wasn't a crow. And then um, yeah. And then I decided maybe the shed wasn't for me. Plus, I'm an avid sleepwalker. Like I have terror, like I sleepwalk, I have night terrors, it's wild. So I I frequently would wake up like like I said, we lived on a farm. So I wake up in the middle of the cow field. One time I woke up by the mailbox, like, and that was like a good two mile stint. Like I just wandered around in the like there's something wrong. Yeah, you might think there's something wrong with me, but yeah, so I was like, you know, it means it's not safe. So I moved back into the house for okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

So the rest of the summer was different.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

No, I did that for like three years. Oh, you did? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. It was on the third year that I got attacked by a bird.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

No additional birds died. No, no, just not that you remember.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

I could have killed them in my sleep, but no, as far as I know, it was uh It was just the one bird. Just the one bird, yeah. It kind of scared me. Some casualties are yeah, no, and then that was fine. And then I but I moved back in. And by that time, like, because I'm the youngest of four siblings, like there wasn't a lot of empty space in the house. So I was cool as that.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Amazing. So I was gonna ask you next, and I think I know the answer to this, but I'm gonna ask you, how did how did that Rachel who was sleeping in the bunk bed become this incredible mural artist? What was that journey like? Oh, that's a very long story. We're we're here for stories.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Um, so like that Rachel was was I into art, maybe, who knows? Like, I did a lot of different things creatively.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Was there like a particular kind of design or art that was drawing you at the time? Although I really liked mini dioramas.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Oh, okay. Yeah, cool, cool. You know, it has nothing to do with what I do now. But I I like it. Um, I liked just being creative, and and that was me in high school and whatnot. And then I decided I should go back to school. Like something I gotta figure out in my life. Yeah, go back to school. And during all this time, I had saved up money and I had bought a house. So I was 20 years old and I was living on my own in a house, this little tiny 900 square foot house. And um, it was just me and my dog and my cat, and we lived in this little tiny house, and I worked like a little show.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

It was very cute. Um, and I it was funny because it was right on St. Mary's Road, and all of my like it was zoned C2, so it was supposed to be a business, but for some reason somebody renovated it into a house. And so all of my neighbors were businesses, and I was the only like person living there, even across the street. I was right on St. Mary's, and so one was like a dog groomer's they took care of my, they clearly saw this little kid. I was like a little child, right? Like just mentally, too. Yeah, yeah. They just saw this little kid living next to them.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

So you're 20.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

I was 20. Like I had no idea what I was doing. My grasp was always crazy long. I was just this like I was running around and and like I had a dog, and so the dog groomer constantly like just took care of my dog for free. Like she would give it bass and clip her nails. So she was a really great neighbor. And the other neighbor was a taxing, like he did taxes, like he was your taxes. He did my taxes for free. And like all that they they tried to keep like they took care of me. I made care of Rachel, this little kid running around. And then um that is community. It was community, yeah, for sure. And like sometimes I would go to Dairy Queen across the street and uh they would like give me a free hot dog because I didn't have any money to buy food.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

I just took you in here.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

They were just like, Well, she's the she's the weird neighbor. Yeah, she loves Rachel. We'll just show her love. Yeah, yeah. It was great. I loved it. Um, and then I left like so. Then I was like, I need to like figure out my life. Like, there's got to be something else to do. And so yeah, I went back to university and I took human resource management. Oh, wow. I know. Terrible. Not for me. I did not see that coming. No, I don't even like people that much. Yeah, but um, I did it and uh I couldn't figure out why everybody in that class cried constantly. Like human resource management people, very touchy people. Like everyone was always crying. There's so many emotions, which is great for them.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Can we make sure our HR director hears this?

SPEAKER_01 9:30

So many emotions. They also kind of said in the HR program, they were like, you know, this is a very lonely job because like you're usually the only one and you have to rely on all your other HR like people. That's why there's like all these HR meetups where all the HR people can get together and be sad or whatever they feel like being. I don't really know.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

I'm learning so much about HR that I did not know.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

So, anyways, I did HR. I I took that. Um, and then I remember there was like a like a presentation section of it, and it was like teach the class something. Because in HR, you have to like do sometimes you do like company onboarding and whatnot. So you teach the class something um and show us that you can teach. That was just like a section of it. And like I taught uh everyone taught these, everyone taught something that was like meaningful to them, and and there was always tears. It was always every the whole class would end up in tears, like it was just this big cry fest. I didn't understand it, but that was cool. And then I did um like how to effectively doodle on the outside of your paper.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

I love that stuff. Yeah, it was so good.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

I would actually teach that class still because it was like if you would take that class it's really great. It would be like how to doodle something that kind of went along with what you were learning. Oh, you know, so that you could do so your doodle so great. Oh, taught it was great, anyways. And I still have the layouts like and I had to get I got people to doodle, like I would like draw a little doodle and had to turn it into something that was like the yeah activity at the end of the class. So I effectively doodle on the borders of your paper. Um how did people respond to that? Everyone loved it. There you go. People in the classic, nobody cried. There was no tears, and I think we we got through that one without tears, anyways. It was really great. And from there, um, I graduated. So then here is where art comes in. So this is a that was a long-winded story to get to. I love it. I love the journey. So because I consistently left every single job just up and left, like, and I had no backup plan. So while I was unemployed, I I remember I went to the dollar store and like through I would do art here and there, just like little things. Like I did have an ESL and I would paint some kinds. Like I was always kind of interested, it was always something that I liked. Um, but it wasn't like didn't take over, it wasn't. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So then one day I was like, oh, I really had a well, we're on a podcast, so I'll just tell you the whole thing. Yeah, please, please. So I um I had an idea about a birds. Okay. I wanted to paint a bunch of birds. Okay. And then I had an idea that I wanted to find the perfect tree, like almost like think of like a bonsai tree, how it's like kind of got all those little branches, but like blow it up and make it a big one. Look, I don't know the name of trees. I'm not a arborist. But um I was gonna say botanist, but I think it is an arborist. If you're not, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Um clearly, I also don't know much about trees.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Nobody does except for those people and for them. That's why they have their jobs. Um, so yeah, so I don't know too much about trees, and I didn't even know what I was looking for, but I wanted to paint a whole bunch of birds like on canvas, and then I wanted to put them in the tree like they were birds in a tree. And then I wanted to dress like a bird, like and sit in the tree with them. And then what I would do with that photo, like take a picture, and what I do with that photo, I have no idea. Like, would it maybe it would be like my like back then it was only Facebook, like maybe it would be my Facebook like profile picker. I don't really know. Like I have no idea. It was just that's the that's what I wanted to do. And so, like while I was unemployed one day, I went to the dollar store, got the little canvases because they had to be like, you know, the yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like 10 by 10 inch canvas, and I bought the canvas and then I painted the birds. Sure. And like they weren't good, like this was like back in the yeah, yeah. But I did make the costume. I got like a full spandex, it was like uh teal, purple teal, and then I built big wings. I never took the photo, couldn't find the perfect tree, never took the photo, but it all exists, okay? It's there.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Do you still have it?

SPEAKER_01 13:16

The costume? Yeah, no, the wings were way too big. They were like they were like four foot each, and like when you're couch surfing, it's hard to like convince people. So that's where it started. By this point, I had met my boyfriend. Now he's now my husband, but I had met him, and I was living in his parents' basement. Okay. So we had kind of stopped jumping around a bit, and I was living there. And uh I was unemployed still and painting, you know, things, and I got just obsessed, like I get really obsessed with things. So I got really obsessed with this, and I would paint, like I set up my like ESOL's kind of workstation on the other side of the couch, so he would like watch like a baseball game, and I would just be painting, and like that's how we would hang out, right? Like and he'd be like, Oh, what are you doing? Oh, that looks painting. Yeah, I'd be like, Oh, thank you. How's the game going? Yeah, you know, it was very lovely. So, anyways, he was doing that, and I was like painting and doodling and taking odd jobs here and there. During this time, my mom still owned the bakery, but she had hired employees, and because I was in HR, I I did her recruiting for her and I kind of kept the and then I also worked there sometimes, just like to pick up a look. I cannot stop moving, right? Then um I painted a mural for her because I got I was like, I like why I'm not sure. I just wanted to. Um, so I painted a mural for her, and back then we didn't have like um Facebook Marketplace or anything. Facebook was just kind of starting. We just definitely didn't have Instagram, so it was just kind of starting, but we had Kijiji. Yeah, so me being me, I was like, I painted one mural, and this is clearly what I can do now. Look at how great, of course, and you know, when you're young and you're just like everything, you do. Everything you do is so fantastic. You're just like, look at me. I did this most amazing, it was terrible. Oh took me so long, but anyways, posted it on Kijiji, got a call from um Celebrations Dinner Theater. Oh, okay. So what they do is they build the set every couple months. So there's that. That's where murals started, where they kind of started, and then I would like post Facebook. You know, I had a little Facebook account, and then I did open like at first, it was just on my personal, then I started like a page.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

And back then I was Rachel Mays, I wasn't married or anything. Okay. So I started posting here, like every like every mural that I painted with them. But, anyways, um, so yeah, so then so that's what it was like. It was like I was like I was doing my job, getting bank time. I worked a lot of hours at that job, and then I would paint. And then, you know, like here it was between celebrations dinner theater, it was uh a mural here and there. Like I would go to someone's, like, oh, can you do this? Started they started small. Most of the murals were like floral work, greenery trees were very popular. You know how I am about a tree, a good tree. Um, I could paint a lot of good trees. So that's kind of how it started. I would do um personal care home started calling me then back then too, because I would do like hidden doorways for dementia units and whatnot. And uh yeah, so that's kind of how it started. And then I quit I quit that job. Sure. Because well, you know, yes, well, I can't hold that down. So I went to another job um and it was terrible fit, absolutely worse, way worse than the first one because they didn't like that.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

At this point, had you uh considered that uh you could be a full-time no, okay, no, but I will tell you so.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

At this point, now my husband has now graduated and he is now working as third-party logistics supply chain person. Right. And he um so at this point we're full both working, right? And he loses his job. And um so so I'm I'm I was working. Was I working? Yeah. Oh, this I I had left the university and I had gotten a new job, which I won't mention the company because they were awful, terrible job. And so I was working there, and so my husband was unemployed and as a boyfriend back then. Right. And uh he and he was like, Hey, um I I was like, Well, what do you want to do? And because you know you took you went to Aspra, he was like, I think I want to like open my own company. And I was like, Great, like what do you want to do? And he was like, I don't know, open a company. That's very blanketed determined. You can literally do whatever you want. Broad, broad. Yeah. So I was like, Well, I don't know what I'm doing with this art stuff, but like at this point, I had maybe like 5,000 followers, maybe a little bit more. No, that's probably closer to 10. Doesn't matter, but that's on Facebook. Okay, I had just kind of opened my Instagram account and like things were happening. And I said, Why don't you try to make that a company? Yeah. And like, see, give it a go. Like, see what you learned in university and try to make it a company. And like, if it doesn't work, no hard feelings. And if it comes between our relationship, like, call it quits. Makes no difference to me. Like, see what you can do and call what quits. Like, relationship with the business, okay. Obviously, the relationship because art comes first, of course. So that is why we are no longer together and we do not have children. I'm just kidding. So, no, he he was like, Yeah, no, I'll I'll I'll do that. I don't know. And he like did his own thing, and I'm not one to tell him what to do. I'm just kind of like whatever, like you make your own discipline, you're a full grown adult. And so, yeah, he decided to do that. And he, if it I would say, if it wasn't for my husband, there would be no like Rachel Lancaster art, the company. Like, he really turned it into something. Cool. He like took all of his university knowledge and like invested it into throwing it into a business and the homework and the noodles. So he he like he took what he learned, which was good enough because I learned some. We did it together, yeah. But mostly him in terms of like, and then he like made it a legit business. Because I mean because I can say this now, but like a hundred dollars, team yeah, like $150 cash is not like legal, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But now it is because I have a business and we pay taxes and do that whole thing, which I could never have figured out if it wasn't for him, right? Like, believe me, it would have been like, okay, yeah, um, I'll just work for this company. So I so he did that, and then he never went back to a regular job. So he believed in this company, and I'm still at the university, I still have multiple jobs to tell you about, but he had believed in me ever since this point. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. I this is not a real thing. People don't want my art. This is crazy, right? So back then I'm still flipping, I'm I'm buying wooden cats and I'm buying furniture, and I'm like, I'm flipping, I I remember I did like big ducks and lamps and whatever I could find at the thrifter. I'm just buying it. Hopefully, it's made out of wood and like doing something to it. I don't know, painting on it, doing something, and I did that, did that for a long time. Meanwhile, I'm sorry, I'm painting, I'm painting um, you know, some originals here and there, you know. Um, like I did like series of paints. I I found that my originals were a little too weird. Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Like they did some of them sold, but some of them were like, like I did a whole series of paintings where like this giant gorilla was fighting an octopus. And back then the story is that he had like nine legs, but the gorilla ripped off one of his legs, and you can see it in the painting. Little sci-fi. Yeah, like you can see the gorilla holding the leg. It's like victim, but he's riding a gigantic hippo, and he's I know he's in the water. It's this so I don't know. And then for some reason, there were they were in the clouds for a good portion of the battle. So the clouds ones actually sold. There's some mystical stuff here. Yeah, so on then I find another job. I leave the bad job. Yeah, and I find and then I'm unemployed for a long time, you know. And then I'm painting, yada yada. There was like a lot murals were picking up. I was doing a lot more murals. Um, I would say I would do more murals than like I've collectively done more murals than any like side work. You know what I mean? Like any like paintings on um also at this point, I'm really into painting pet portraits. So I was really into painting, yeah. So like especially during Christmas, I'd have like 25 like on the go. Like I'd just line them up and get to get like and also I can't focus like till one is finished. Like I have to just jump, jump, jump. So I was the worst roommate because it would just be like 25 pet portraits half done all over the house. Like so that's how I worked. Um, and yeah, I did that. Um, and then I got another job at the Manitoba Museum as their event coordinator. So I worked 35 hours a week at the museum and I would work about 40 hours a week painting murals. I didn't, but it didn't dawn on me that it was a full-time job because when you love something, yeah. I I traveled around, I still, in fact, if you need a mural right now, I could paint you one. Like I travel around with a full set of paint. Like my car is the springs are just like that. Like I it's just I'm filled with paint. At any moment, I could drop and paint a mural. Like, drop and give you 10. I could do it with murals. Oh, I have all of my brushes, everything I need. And that's what I would do. I would go to work with like my entire kit, and I would leave work and go straight to a mural, change like on so I would leave the museum in just disgusting clothes, and I didn't care get in my And drive to the next job site. Um, and weekends I worked both days, like just yeah, I would cram in. I sometimes I would go from one mural to the next. Like I just ended up working a lot. Um, and back then you can, like you're young and you don't have kids, and life is different. And you love doing it, and you love to feel like work. Yeah, and um and then um what happened? And then I got married. So I changed my name to Lancaster, and that was a whole hazoo online because they were like, I believe this Rachel Lancaster is stealing Rachel Mays's work. Whoa, and they were and the people were coming out, and I said, I'm so grateful that I have supporters that really noticed, first of all, noticed, like I'm super impressed. Um, but also, yes, thank you. Also, I had to make a note, I had to announce that I was now married and my name would be changed over. And plus, honestly, even if we got divorced, I mean the name Lancaster, it like totally yeah, it's like it's great. Um, and my aesthetically, my Rachel fits between the L and the T. Oh, yeah. It's just a way nicer name than Rachel Maze. Maze is a four-letter word that has no where are you gonna put it? You know what I mean? It doesn't fit. It's just it's it's aesthetically it but it is on that painting and it's a great painting. Absolutely. So if you're interested, you can give me a call. Um, so no, so the so that that happened. I get married, yeah. So then life happens, and then COVID happened. Yeah, and COVID, um, obviously, as an event coordinator, you're gonna lose your day job. Sure. And uh, so I did. And they had like this work from home um set up. Like, obviously, what am I gonna do?

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Yeah, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 23:40

COVID started. I go home, I set up my office, and four days later I'm find out I'm pregnant. And then, and we were trying. Lot twists. I know. So then I'm pregnant, I I'm unemployed, I'm pregnant, and I'm painting murals. And I looked and I and my husband and I said, I think the universe has spoken. I think I need to be a full-time mural artist. And he was like, I agree, I've been telling you this for eight years. Now, like at this point, it's been five years that he's been literally a full-time Rachel Lancaster employee or running the company. We're what is it called when you're we're partners, I guess. Yeah, or in the company, yes. We're real life partners, but I think in the company he's like a partner or he's the owner. I don't actually know how it works, and I don't really care. Partners, partners, and so he um he's like, I've been telling you this for a long time. You really should. I believe in you. And I was like, Okay, great. So you're doing murals full-time at this point, yeah. Wow-time. And then um, and then I got pregnant with my second. They're a year and a half apart, so I got pregnant right away with my second, and then um I was like, what are we gonna do? Because at this point, I'm like, now we don't have Matt Leave, we don't have like a backup plan. Sure. So I started just I bought an iPad, so I just started drawing, sure, just drawing pictures, just oh as fast as I could, and I thought, yeah, I'll make a coloring book.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

So I did a coloring book. Um Rachel Lancaster art coloring book. I have two, three now. And then I just I was I like literally went up pounding the street like with my baby and my like a stack of coloring, trying to get them in little stores, whatever stores would take my coloring book, you know, commissions or whatever they want to do. Um yeah, so I have two kids at this point, and I I go to the zoo and I am handing out my color. I said, you know, are you guys interested in carrying this coloring book? And they said, actually, it's really funny because the leaf has just opened and the leaf gift shop needs like a only things that could be sold at the leaf gift shop are things that are like made here in Winnipeg and also they have to be like custom for the leaf. Oh I said, Oh, that's cool. And they're like, Do you do like a custom coloring book? Yeah. And I was like, Yeah, I sure do. Yeah. Because, you know, with that blinded confidence that I have, of course, you have to I have done one thing and now I think I am the best at it. So I'm like, Of course, I've done custom stuff. So I went to the leaf, I walked around the leaf, and I took pictures of like flowers that were growing there and like bugs that I saw, and I made a leaf coloring book. Now we're here. And now I have two children, and that is all I'm going to have.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

I I love that journey, and thank you for sharing that. That was like so fun. That was so fun. No, thank you, thank you, thank you. So you've done some incredible murals, and um part of what we're really hoping to explore is the story that gets told through murals. And you've also done some that have had challenging history, challenging things happen. So tell us a little bit about the story behind a mural or what's one that has stayed with you.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

I actually enjoy a lot of the times. Okay, so the way I work, the way I paint murals, is um I'm a freehand artist, so I just kind of get inspiration when I'm standing at the wall. I don't know if that's because I'm just lazy and I cannot come up with the concept design beforehand because I just don't want to. Sure. Or if it's because I actually sometimes it's about the moment too. Yeah, I I do find that I like sometimes there's something I'm standing there and I'm like, I have a better idea.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

And it when now that I've proposed that idea and said that idea enough, people are believing that I can do it. Like there's yeah, there's a lot more like, oh, I've seen your work online, I understand how you work, my voiceovers kind of say the same thing a lot of the times over and over and over. So I like I'm really driving home the fact that I am freehand and you just have to trust the process. Yeah. Um, and now that I've done it and I have a little bit of in my in my back pocket, um, people tend to believe me and go with it. Whereas when I first started, it was like, no, no, no, here's this image we found on like Google and you need to replicate it. Um, so now I have that. So all of my murals usually are just like something that I'm totally obsessed with because I have just thought of it. And um, like a lot of the time a client will give me like um a piece of paper that has like six words, you know, and it's like here's how what we want in the mural. And it's like family, community, and or gorilla, gorilla. And then I I'm the one who has to sit there and say, now how would you like this visually represented? Right, right? Like, yeah, it's great to have the words, but I'm not gonna graffiti up your wall with some words. Right. I'm going to give you a visual that takes these words into account. And so that's a challenge. Like every mural is a challenge. And sometimes, sometimes I don't find out those words until I'm literally there. Like I have gone to a schools and sat with the students, walked in with a blank piece of paper. There's 50 kids in the room, and I say, Yell, start yelling, start yelling a bunch of stuff. And we have just had the craziest murals come out of that because they will sell, they'll say, ramen noodles, axolotls, lemonade. Sure. And then I make an axolotl eating a bowl of Roman noodles, a teddy bear at a lemonade stand selling to who's alive. The teddy bear is now alive. Yeah, I've gotten out of the dead, yeah, into the alive, and you know, he's selling lemonade to the Captain Underpants because it's from the book. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Like, yeah, um, just yeah, like it and I love that because then the kids are seeing parts of what they've said.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

That's the best part of those kids. Like I've done so many daycare murals where the kids have asked me for something. Can you put this in? And I say, Yep. Well, just figure out how to put it in.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Like, even when I'm there, if I'm standing at the wall, you change your mind, that's too totally cool with me.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:19

Um, so I just those are the best murals. So I can't tell you exactly which one, but I can tell you that a lot of them to me, like, oh yeah, I did you did this mural for that. And I'll be like, Oh, that was cool because you could just wake up one day and just be like, I'm gonna paint an octopus. Yeah, and that client is gonna be okay with it. And that's what I do. Get there and paint a giant octopus. That's what I did one time. I was painting at Harold Hatcher, like the school. Yeah, and she was like, You can paint in really nice mural, whatever you want. Whatever I want. I was like, Yeah, whatever, as long as it's nice. And then I was like, octopus? She's like, Okay. Huh, I love it. I love it. Okay, yeah, just do whatever I want. So, yeah, people that people are usually cool with it as long as it kind of fits with whatever. Yeah. And sometimes I can convince them. You know what I mean? Like, I can be like, Well, I know the word here is community, so I think I should paint you a lion because lions are part of a pride, and pride is very community-driven, you know, without their pride, their pride.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Yeah, this is almost like that game code names, where you have a word and you have to guess, or you give a clue and someone has to guess what word you're thinking about. Yeah, I would be very good at that game. You might be.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

Yeah, I can always think of I can think of an animal and link it to almost anything. You know what I mean? Like, oh yeah, that word. And if I really, really feel like I won't need to paint a hummingbird, I can convince you that a hummingbird is in fact a representation of the word resilience. Oh, do you know what I mean? Hummingbird resilience.

SPEAKER_02 30:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Have have people ever like have you painted something and the outcome has been like not so great? Like people are like, whoa, I don't see the connection.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Uh not in terms of like the connection piece, because I will run that by them beforehand. Yeah. Um, but I have had murals where it's like maybe like what they've requested and the outcome isn't exactly what they had in their brain mind. Sure. And that usually is on both of our parts, like a misunderstanding. Sure. So it's like maybe what was maybe I didn't ask the right questions in order to pull the information that I needed out of them. Like, I need you know, like I want you to paint something, and they have an idea in their brain, and then I execute it on a different level because I didn't ask them enough questions. Like to me, it's when I go in and I I really there's like a good 30 minutes of interview with them where I'm trying to pull out the style that they're looking for, oh yeah, and like the vibe they want the mural to be. Sure. And then once I get that information, I can usually give them a pretty dead on, they're like, even better than I expected, right? But like every once in a while there's something where it's like, yeah, oh, that's not what I had in mind, and then I'm like, oh maybe there wasn't enough questions asked.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Right. But yeah, it's never and ultimately they're trusting your your creativity. Exactly. Right.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

So it's more like lately in the past five years, it's become more of a let's get a Rachel Lancaster mural, then let's get a mural of with a certain let's get a mural of a dog. That's doesn't that's a that's a different mural artist. This is yeah, yeah, yeah. You're asking me for a Rachel Lancaster original. Cool, and so that I've noticed that shift, and ever since that shift happened, I'm like, uh now you want my art, however, you want, however, it comes out. A lot of the people in Winnipeg, thankfully, Winnipeg and surrounding area, like they really seem to appreciate art or what I have a really good, I I am very grateful for Winnipeg's and the whole city and and and how I'm really well supported. And it just seems like lately there's been this shift that they want my stuff versus they want something that you know. Yeah, there's the occasional one that still wants like a logo built in or something like that. And that's I'm totally fine to do that. And I've been doing that for years, but it's more like let's get something from Rachel on the wall. Yeah, let's see what she comes up with. And it's always like this like kind of cool experiment of what comes up comes out of her now.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

Like what piece can she do now? Is your process pretty similar to how you were painting like five years ago? Every year I surprise myself.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Yeah, I think I have I've completely I feel like I'm completely a different artist every at the end of every single year, but then I don't but then people will be like, Oh, I saw the undercoat and I knew it was you. Like I I drove by a wall and I saw the I it was like literally literal sketches on the wall, and I thought Rachel has to be painting the I hear that all the time. Rachel has to be painting that mural. I just saw the under. I'm like, I'm literally on the base layer, like I didn't even get anything on the wall yet. And people can tell my work, like it's it's immediate. Yeah, um, but I think I'm totally different. So I don't know. Right. Like I look at my stuff and I'm like, my style has changed, my lines are cleaner, um, my images are more real like on the like more realistic for me. Um, and yet apparently it's recognizable.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Oh, that's very cool. Rachel, when you imagine Winnipeg, like a you know, this city, and you said you're very grateful for Winnipeg's approach to art and everything else, where do you think the city is going in five years from now? When it comes to murals and art and expression? Well, where would you like to see it go?

SPEAKER_01 34:20

Like, I mean, I would think that one of the num num number one resource that we have, like that everybody has is a wall. It's one of the biggest most accessible resources. Yeah. Everybody has a wall. Yeah. So if you have a wall, I have paint. Do you know what I mean? I don't know a single person. Yeah. That like maybe I do know a couple people who don't have their own walls.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Fair.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

But I know you probably have access to a wall or you've probably seen a wall before. Even if you're clout, you know, couch surfing.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

I don't care who you are, you've probably seen a blank wall. Yeah.

unknown 34:53

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

I love that. And I don't know the way we support art in this city, yeah. Get me in there. I see one right here. You know what I mean? They're everywhere. I just I keep seeing them. Yeah. Drive down the city.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

I just I'm thinking about the walls in the space right now. There's so many walls.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

Like, I just can't get over it. And like, why are they not all covered with art? I don't know. I keep asking the question. I say, you've got a great so beautiful and colorful. I just can't get over the way a mural can change a space immediately. Yeah. Like it is, it is so immediate. Even the undercoat changes it. Some people are like, oh, you're already doing such a great job, and I've literally put one color on the wall. It's just like that's how fast it can change. So what lies ahead for Rachel? My goal is to make if you think of a piece of like a mural or a piece of art, you immediately connect it to my name. Like, could you imagine? Like, you know how you think of tissue to blow your nose, but you clean it up. I want it to be like Rachel Lancaster does murals. Like, it's not as if it's like you were thinking of a mural artist and you needed to find one and Google one. It's like, oh no, I'm looking for a wall for Rachel to paint.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

Like that's how I want it.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

I want it to be so distinct with murals and artwork and Rachel Lancaster. Like it's just connected to that.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

That's how it is. Rachel, thank you so much for sharing your story today. This was such a delightful conversation. Thank you. Glad you liked my quirkiness. It's great, it's beautiful, and I can't wait to see what lies ahead. Neither can I. Yeah, awesome. Thank you. Welcome.