Sarah Raskey

Sarah Raskey is a visionary artist, a licensed clinical professional psychotherapist, a certified art therapist and a former graduate art therapy/psychology professor at both the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and DePaul University. She is the owner of Sarah Raskey Fine Art Gallery in the West Loop where she exhibits her work exclusively. Sarah is also the co-founder/owner of Open Avenue Therapy, a Chicago-based private psychotherapy practice since 2008. 

As an artist, Sarah believes in changing the way people look at art. She is dedicated to artistic and transformative living, creative design, and evolving global and social awareness through the arts. She has exhibited nationally and internationally since 2000, and has created a prolific volume of work in both residential and commercial settings.

At the forefront of all things experimental and mixed media, her work often includes combinations of light, natural crystals, textiles, glass, metal, stone, as well as an array of additional various and ever-changing materials. Sarah uses her unconventional palette to orchestrate combinations of mixtures and mediums in anything but traditional applications. By using transformative art techniques in a fashion similar to that of an alchemist, she is able to capture complex concepts making so much of her work part painting, part sculpture and entirely unique. Sarah’s work touches upon a plethora of references including planetary consciousness, energetic frequencies, healing and ancient wisdom traditions, symbolism, expanding consciousness, the human condition and the sacredness of the creative spirit. 

In the hands of Sarah Raskey, art becomes the crown jewel of an environment, and a healing element for the body, mind and soul. A dedicated artist and art therapist, Raskey creates mixed-media paintings, sculpture, photography and fashion pieces for the commercial, residential and hospitality markets. The resident artist at Loews Miami Beach, she boasts many works on display throughout the hotel, including a 36-foot curved and illuminated wall sculpture, custom carpeting throughout the hallways, and textile headboard walls in every one of its guest rooms. She also has several commissions in a Macau casino, Chicago’s Hotel Allegro, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa and MB Steak, located in the Virgin Las Vegas Hotel. “I work with a wide and ever-changing list of materials that I personally source, which allows my clients abundant customization options,” Raskey says, referring to her combinations of gems and minerals, crystal, light, textiles, metal, glass, and myriad more. Holding several degrees in both art and psychology, including a master’s in art therapy, Raskey has exhibited nationally and internationally since 2002, and began her private psychotherapy practice in 2008.

In 2013, she opened the doors to Sarah Raskey Fine Art Gallery, located in the West Loop. “As both an artist and art therapist, I find it mesmerizing to embrace the adventure found within trusting the process,” she says. “I am forever enchanted by the unpredictability of artmaking paired with the experience of total freedom within one’s imagination and intuition.” In addition to her one-of-a-kind statement pieces and luxury art, Raskey is pursuing new fashions, textiles and lines of home accessories.

ARTIST STATEMENT

THIS   IS   CONTEMPORARY   ART   WITH   OLD   SOUL

I believe that art is an opportunity for the kind of expression that leads to contemplation, awakening, inspiration and evolution that can ultimately help manifest compassionate oneness throughout our planet. Art makes me come alive in a way that nothing else does. It has shaped how I see the world and my connection to everything in it. I am fascinated by art’s ability to deepen our communication in meaningful and transformative ways which allow for a more harmonic existence. In a world of diverse inhabitants, I cannot help but reflect upon the expansive layers of our co-existence and the unmistakable interconnectedness between all things. I feel that so much of our emotional and physical survival is dependent upon the understanding, honoring, communicating, and protecting of this myriad of interconnectedness. And so, I continue to be humbled and inspired by the sheer art of living, and by all of the complexities, resiliency, beauty, messiness, mystery and wonder that it entails. Each piece of my art speaks of the hidden landscapes beyond our sight and all around us. During my creative process I tend to become tapped in but elsewhere, making each piece a glimpse of a collective psyche of sorts and a reflection of a creative moment forged in candid sincerity. In an absence of shields and armor, these paintings are real and brave, honest and imperfect, personal, yet universal. - Sarah Raskey