<h1>Rebecca Schrader - Chromaticism</h1>March 7, 2026 - March 26, 2026<h3>Art Walk and Artist reception: Saturday, March 7, 4-7pm</h3>Exhibition Statement: The world today moves so fast. Dense and narcotic imagery floods our field of vision at the speed of light. Pictures designed to make us feel empty persuade us to open our wallets and buy into the latest trends, only to leave us feeling emptier than we began. It’s hard to trust the information we see. Painting offers a brief repose from the overstimulation. My rebellion happens through quiet introspection. I make no effort to manipulate my viewer into any concrete thought-form. In the world of hyper-advertisement, I have no desire to make a “convincing” image. Instead, my paintings are ground for my own reflection on self and materiality. Through gazing inward, I learn more about the world around me. In doing so, I hope to question the binary structures surrounding painting conventions like expression and representation.My proposed exhibition celebrates color, harmony, and chance. The paintings are small, emerging from careful listening and encouraging close looking. As a cellist, I apply musicality to my compositional process, working from improvisation to find rhythmic texture and tonal structure.Chromaticism is modulation across close intervals of sound to create more nuanced color. In music, it is often described as a small stepping movement. It implies use of the full musical scale outside of the original key of the piece. These outsider notes are called “accidentals.” I love the idea that we can create more harmony by looking beyond our vision, pulling accidental forms from the deep subconscious to divine the present.Bio: Rebecca Schrader (b. 1999) is a cellist and visual artist based in Easthampton. Her creative work spans abstract mixed-media painting, ambient soundscapes, film, poetry, and performance. She currently teaches drawing and painting as a Studio Art MFA candidate at UMass Amherst.