Raine Storey: On Beauty and the Torment of Self-Expression

Raine Storey is a Canadian artist who learned her art skills from her grandfather. “I used to cut his grass for a lesson," she shares with the magazine. Starting out as an oil painter, often working with realism or abstract art on large canvas, she moved onto sculpting a few years ago with her debut project ‘Paragone’. Exploring the well-known debate in Renaissance Italy about the question of superiority between sculpture and painting, Raine’s sculpture is based on a sketch made by her late grandfather. Now an established painter and sculptor, she shares her experience juggling between the two mediums.

“This project was challenging because I was unsure of what I would do for a long time. But I thought, ‘If I’m going to do something in a new medium, I want a subject that feels close to home’. So I ordered a set of chisels and tools from ebay. At the time, I had never taken sculpting classes apart from the teachings of my grandfather. When time came to start the project, I stood there not knowing what hand to sculpt with, because I am left-handed. I didn’t know if I was supposed to hit the hammer with the left hand or manipulate the chisel with the left”

Raine Storey sculpting Paragone. Image credit : Raine Storey.

“What is different between painting and sculpting is that painting is very romantic; you can wheel the paintbrush with a glass of wine in your other hand. But when you’re sculpting, it’s hot outside, and all the dust creates a cast-like paste onto you. It’s physically exhausting because when you are not chiseling, you are using a dremel, so your arms are always up in the air working against the stone. But this project was so interesting because sculpting became my whole life; it’s all I could concentrate on and it was all I wanted to do at any given time. So I worked on it every single day of the week except for sundays when I wasn’t allowed to make noise in the streets”

In 2024, Raine took a leap and added another layer to her art during her collaboration with Bvlgari and the National Gallery, where she sculpted using virtual reality. The artist explained that, when she was contacted for the project, a challenge arose because of the nature of the location. Unable to paint or sculpt in the historical building, they offered to use virtual reality instead, something which the artist had never done before. 

‘I love working with challenging projects and especially in terms of different materials. Every medium is going to give you a challenge that makes it special to work through. The day before the event, I went to the National Gallery to test out the equipment, and it turned out that it was not working because the connection was too poor in the room, so we had to figure that out at the last minute’.

Raine Storey during her collaboration with Bvlgari at the National Gallery. Image credit: Kyle Galvin.

After the process of creating, comes the process of sharing. Having already experienced her first exhibitions, Raine shares the effect this kind of experience has on an artist, and the emotional turmoil that comes with giving away art pieces that became part of her as an artist.  

“Sometimes you have an artwork that could be finished as is, and someone wants to purchase it or have it in a show, but you just think to yourself ‘it doesn’t feel completed to me”. That’s why I am currently trying to experiment more and force myself to destroy the pieces I feel were successful. I want to be comfortable with not holding onto something just because it could sell or because it gives me pride. But it’s hard, because sometimes it’s pieces that you have been thinking about for so long that it has become a part of your mind. An artwork isn’t just an object to its artist, it’s like a part of themselves. That’s why I love seeing artists on their opening nights; I think it’s a really beautiful moment because it’s so deeply personal. It’s like standing naked in front of all these people. Everything that you were able to creatively pour out of yourself is there, everything your hand could create on display for everyone. And most of the time I’ll stand in front of my work and just think of all the things I could have done better or differently. But then you take some space from the paintings, and when you come back to it, you’re very proud. There is definitely a beauty in the torment of your self-expression”.

Being an artist is more than simply creating and being art. Another aspect that comes with the career of artists is business; how to sell yourself, value yourself and make sure that you earn what you deserve. Raine shares that her grandfather was the one who taught her how to think of pricing. Selling her first pieces when she was in high school, it was soon an obligation for her to learn accounting, and so, she learned how to factor in the cost of materials, but also the cost of making, and the cost of her time. But as her career progressed, it became clear that a woman selling having a sense of business as an artist was not always valued. She shares that during her graduating year, some of her professors came to see her show, and one of them told her  “your prices are a little high don’t you think?”. A few years later, when she started to advertise herself on social media, she received comments such as “Great, another model who fancies herself an artist”. But these kinds of words did not discourage her, and only made her reflect on the hardship of being a business person as well as an artist. 

Raine is an established artist, who has managed to excel in her career, concurrently battling the sacrifice that comes with creative expenditure and the use of tangible materials, alongside business acumen and financial literacy/survival. Never forgetting her roots and the struggles she experienced at the beginning of her journey, she works actively to support emerging artists and push the art world to change for the better.