ARTIST STATEMENT
I contemplate the work that goes into caring for my mental health, a constant and unperceived self-maintenance, and how that mirrors the invisible labor—mental, physical, and emotional—that society demands of women. Utilizing self-portraiture and the motif of the paper bag, I explore the relationships between personal and gendered labor. I present mundane paper bags as something exceptional, worthy of attention, and somewhat absurd. Large enough to hold my physical body and small enough to be held in my palm, the paper bags become both tangible representations of the unnoticed labor of care and spaces that provide safety and comfort.
With paper bags and kraft paper scraps, I make my own handmade paper, which serves as the “fabric” that I use to craft hand-quilted paper bags. Printed self-portraits exist alongside the bags as a way of personalizing the labor and claiming it as my own. Labor is my primary medium—the physical toll on my body and the untold hours spent crafting are just as important as the methods and materials I use to create the work. By providing windows into otherwise inaccessible interiors and exposing inner layers, I expose evidence of that labor. These windows present a moment of vulnerability and intimacy, as I allow for a glimpse of my labor.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Rebecca Oehler is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice focuses on the unseen labor of care and her experience with mental illness. Utilizing self-portraiture and the motif of the paper bag, and through the processes of printmaking, sculpture, papermaking, and quilting, she explores the relationships between personal and gendered labor. Oehler has exhibited across the country, most recently at the Gardiner Gallery at Oklahoma State University as part of the 2025 Mid America Print Council Juried Members’ Exhibition, where she was awarded the McClain’s Student Recognition Award. In 2021, Oehler received a full scholarship to attend the Women’s Art Institute Summer Studio Intensive in St. Paul, MN, during which she began incorporating paper bags into her practice.
Oehler is currently an instructor of record at the University of Iowa, where she teaches printmaking. Previously, she was a Research Assistant in the Office of Visual Materials at the University of Iowa, during which time she curated an exhibition of prints from the Printmaking Archive to be on display during the 2024 Frogman’s Print Workshops. Oehler was born in Fergus Falls, MN, and grew up in North Dakota and Minnesota. She studied printmaking and photography at Minnesota State University Moorhead, where she graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in Studio Art. Currently residing in Iowa with her cat Dante, Oehler is pursuing her MFA in printmaking at the University of Iowa.
© Rebecca Oehler