The Artist Sees Differently: Rachel Goldberg

Rachel Goldberg, Manager of School, Outreach, and Family Programs

Self-portrait by Rachel Goldberg

How did you learn about the Phillips?

I learned about the Phillips while researching Georgia O’Keeffe’s process for distributing her husband, Alfred Stieglitz’s, collection of photographs to major museums after his death. She chose very specific works for each museum to which she gave the work—the Phillips was given a small group of Stieglitz’s Equivalents.

Do you feel you are inspired by the Phillips artwork?

Definitely.

Do you work in digital or film — and do you listen to anything when you work on your photographs?

I work in whatever photographic medium best suits my current project. I have a particular interest in historic, 19th-century photographic processes, but I also enjoy the immediacy of digital.

What I’m listening to when I’m working on my photographs really depends on where I am in the process. When I’m out in the world photographing, I think the sounds of my surroundings inform the way I compose the images. When I’m in the darkroom I’m usually listening to something pretty mellow on my iPod, and at the computer I like to stream my favorite radio station back in Denver.

Who’s your favorite artist in the collection?

I don’t really have any one favorite—I am inspired by different works at different times. I really enjoyed the permanent collection expressionist installation that was hanging during Kandinsky, but other works that appeal to me are The Garden at Les Lauves (c. 1906) by Paul Cézanne, The Dream (1939) by Marc Chagall, our Morris Louis installation, just about anything by Paul Klee, and of course, anything that sends my students into a flurry of excitement in the galleries!

Do you collect other artwork – or anything?

I have a pretty robust collection of paintings, prints, and photographs that I’ve built through strategic barters and trading with colleagues and friends. I also love to collect experiences . . .

And do you have a favorite Marjorie Phillips work?

My favorite work by a Phillips is Pattern of Farms by Duncan Phillips.

-Rolf Rykken

Rachel Goldberg, From Denver, 2010. Chromogenic print, 16 x 20 inches.

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