Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Ralph.
Rachel, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Growing up in the mountains, I wasn’t exposed to a lot of art as a child. That was, except for my annual visits to Chicago to see my grandfather, who was a lifelong member at the Art Institute and would take me there often. I learned about contemporary art through artists like Felix Gonzalez-Torres and my world expanded. Many years later, when trying to determine a college major, I realized I didn’t have to be an artist to work in art; there are opportunities for curators, writers, project managers, exhibition designers and the list goes on. I began my art historical education at Front Range Community College where I was introduced to not only art history but also museum studies, and never looked back. What followed was a BA in art history from Colorado State University and then a MA in the history and theory of contemporary art from the San Francisco Art Institute. During my graduate studies, I was fortunate to intern at a prominent San Francisco gallery called Fecal Face and upon graduation became it’s director and eventual owner/operator. While I was thrilled to work with a group of really talented artists, the commercial gallery became more about selling work than the art itself and I decided to step back. After a relocation to Denver, I worked with Leon Gallery as their grant writer and have since become curator and project manager for Hear/Say, an exhibition on the effects of high concentration cannabis through the University of Colorado School of Public Health. In 2025, I also opened a gallery in my garage called Rachel Ralph Gallery where we host exhibitions from local and national artists.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
A smooth road in art? I don’t think that exists! Grad school was incredibly difficult (in the best way) but I was fortunate to have a position in the art world upon graduation. I became the director of a gallery at which I had been an intern, but one day, the owner walked in and said, “I can’t do this anymore. You either take this on or I’m closing it down.” I was 28, lived in the most expensive city in the country, had just gone through a breakup, and was in steep student loan debt but I said, “What do I have to lose?” I got a sales license, put the storefront lease in my name, got a small business loan, and I was off. It turns out, selling artwork is really hard and art school does not prepare you for that. I did everything I could to keep the gallery open, from renting my apartment on AirBNB and sleeping in the gallery, to taking a 60 hour a week tech job to pay the bills. One day, I realized I wasn’t even at the gallery very often and was paying someone else to work what had supposedly been my dream job. I needed a change and made the hard decision to close the gallery. This was a blow not only to my career but also to my professional purpose in life. It took me three years to dip my toe back into galleries by joining the board of directors of a nonprofit and eventually writing grants, but I always wanted to curate and run my own space. After the very fortunate opportunity to buy a house in 2023 with a detached garage on the alley, and with the amazing support of my husband, I am finally in a place where I feel connected to my community and have the freedom to do what I want.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At my gallery, we specialize in accessible, low brow artwork with roots in tattooing, graffiti, folk art, photography, and illustration. I’m proud of the fact that in our short time, we have been able to develop a community in a seldom-visited part of Denver. Being on East Colfax means we’re a little further out but it also means we are in a more affordable part of town where artists and creatives actually live. We open our doors to anyone who would like to visit, and are making a difference in our neighborhood by developing a cultural hub. We also open our back yard to guests where people can mingle, see live music, play in the grass, and (most of the time) get a hot dog. By displaying artwork with various roots, we hope to spark interest in every viewer, no matter their background.
Pricing:
- Free
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rachelralphgallery.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelralphgallery/
