Rachel Catlett is an artist and a shepherd, living and working on a small regenerative sheep farm in Sugar Creek, Wisconsin. Raised as a Navy junior, she grew up moving regularly across the US and traveling overseas. After graduating high school, she accepted a scholarship at the Meadows School of Fine Art at Southern Methodist University. Upon graduating with a BFA in Painting, she went on to Colorado State University where she received her MFA in Printmaking She then went on to a 30 year career in ornamental horticulture, beginning at the Chicago Botanic Garden and continuing on as a professional gardener in the landscape design and installation field. Inspired by a lifelong desire to return to her family's rural heritage as ranchers, she pursued her interest in regenerative agriculture.She and her husband Ed, purchased Brown Dog Farm in 2016. She raises heritage breed sheep and goats for wool and meat, rotationally grazes livestock to build soil and sequester carbon. Her artwork tells the story of rural life and the work of ranchers and farmers.
She has continued her painting practice through multiple careers and shows regionally in the Midwest. She accepts commissions, and maintains her studio practice in her farm studio. She enjoys teaching painting and drawing in her rural community, raising her sheep, riding her horse and working with her woodworking husband, restoring their old farmhouse and barns.
