Continuing our series for Women’s History Month, we interviewed Rachel Howe. Rachel is the brain and talent behind @SmallSpells, a multi-dimensional brand, joining healing and the arts. We chat with Rachel about her process and about how she approached her unique business idea.

Illustrations for horoscope playlists on Spotify by Small Spells and curated by astrologer Chani Nicholas

Who is Rachel Howe?

Rachel is a Los Angeles-based illustrator, reiki healer, stick and poke tattoo artist, a potter, a tarot card reader, and a writer - she is basically the definition of creativity.

Rachel created her brand Small Spells by channeling her many talents and healing work into one creative output. Her work is oftentimes all-encompassing by creating visuals for her writing and vice versa. Her passion for creating art is incessant and the driving force behind her successful business.

Small Spells offers a variety of services which include, tarot readings and healing, Reiki sessions, stick and poke tattoo as well as workshops centered around tarot card reading. Her illustration work has been featured on the Spotify platform and other collaborations with both physical and virtual publications as well as collaborations with clothing and jewelry brands.

Zodiac illustrations by Small Spells for jewelry brand Venyx World

Rache’s Background

Rachel is originally from New Jersey but spent most of the life in New York City after she attended college at Parsons School of Design where she studied Fine Arts with a focus on drawing. While she attended Parsons and after she attended college, she worked within the fine art world at galleries and for art dealers around NYC, at which point she began to feel discouraged by the business of fine art. She then decided to focus on carving her own path by creating functional products, and that is how she began making ceramic pieces. During this time, she was able to quit her job and focused on pottery full-time.

As her schedule became more flexible, Rachel took an interest in Astrology and healing modalities which led her to energy work such as Reiki. This is when she began learning techniques to channel energy for healing purposes. Shortly thereafter she began learning tarot card reading and started proving energy healing sessions. Rachel quickly and serendipitously began to gain momentum on social media and began posting horoscope-related content along with her ceramics which is what lead her to other opportunities such as creating her own tarot card deck and working with other brands.

“drawing on the imagery of cartoons, tattoos, handmade illustrations and low-fi graphic design, I’ve found a voice that is both accessible and aspirational. Whether through energy work, a hand-poked tattoo, or a t-shirt, the aim is always to lift up those around me, to raise the level of communication and self-awareness, and to enable personal healing and growth to occur.”

— Rachel Howe, Small Spells

Sticker for “The Bumper Sticker Show” by Small Spells

10 Questions with Rachel Howe

Small Spells is such a unique and dynamic concept that it has caught the attention of many publications and other businesses looking to collaborate with artists. We asked Rachel about what inspires her and how she combines her healing work with her art.

Q: What inspires you to make art?

Rachel: I've always made art since I was a child. I am a visual person, and an emotional person and art to me is a way to translate feelings into something that can visually express those felt emotions, so they can be shared with others. I love looking at all kinds of art, craft, and design for inspiration, and even more when they are combined in unconventional ways. I especially love drawing, as I feel it's something everyone can do in an interesting way, and it's the most direct expression from the brain to the hand.

Q: Is there a woman in history or in your life that has had an influence on your art?

Rachel: I don't know if there is one woman I can name, but I am definitely inspired by all the women I know who make things, design things, or have a small business. Actually, my high school photography teacher, who was also a family friend, was pretty influential on me when I was younger. She was very head-strong, committed to her documentary photography work, and always reminded me that being interesting was more important than being popular.

Q: How did you come up with the concept for your business/brand?

Rachel: My brand came about pretty organically, I didn't really set out to have a business. So much of how I run my business was learned on the fly. And it has kept evolving over time. But, I guess I did have an idea that I wanted to do things my way, and I wanted to make things accessible, both in pricing and in my messaging. I actually came up with the name, Small Spells, before I even had a business!

Q: What do you hope to achieve with the work that you have not yet achieved?

Rachel: The work of mine that I consider most successful feels purposeful and functional, while still being visually interesting. I always want, especially with the more esoteric or spiritual work, to make things accessible and understandable to everyone. I like to create art that also teaches, or helps people. I want to keep making things that open people's minds, allow them to connect with themselves, and teach them new information. I have some future projects in mind that continue to combine illustrations and writings.

Q: What is the connection between your healing work and astrology?

Rachel: My approach to healing is really about self-understanding, and the healing that we can do for ourselves, once we have a fuller awareness of our whole being. So my work as a healer is to guide others to see themselves more clearly. Astrology has always been used as a tool to know oneself, even the parts that we can't see objectively on our own. Both the natal chart and daily horoscopes are used to gain insight into our natural tendencies, our desires and motivations, our blocks and wounds, and to learn how to work with them.

Q: What motivated you to begin printing your designs on apparel and creating your own Tarot cards?

Rachel: My business really started and took off when I was making ceramics. I got really into making functional objects out of clay, but it is very time-consuming and labor-intensive, and I wanted a quicker and easier way to get my work out into the world. I was having fun making drawings, and putting them on t-shirts was even more fun, especially when I would see people wearing them out in the neighborhood. As I returned more to drawing and illustration, and at the same time was learning much more about Tarot, I wanted to express my deepening knowledge by creating my own deck.

Q: What got you into stick & poke tattooing?

Rachel: There was a certain amount of freedom that I felt when I was making ceramics, and working for myself. I felt more like an artist and creator of my own style, more than when I was in art school or working in the art world. So, I had the flexibility and the desire to branch out into anything that felt interesting at the time. A friend taught me how to hand-poke tattoos, and for a while, I just tattooed myself, and my friends. It really sparked my love of drawing again, after taking a break from it to work with clay, and it felt exciting to work on other people's bodies, and have that personal interaction. I've been taking a break from tattooing during the pandemic, but I can't wait to get back to it.

Q: Did you always intend on Small Spells being such a dynamic brand concept?

Rachel: I didn't really intend for my brand to be any sort of way at the beginning! It really just coincided with my own personal development and healing in a way where I felt able to make things that reflected my own authentic interests, no matter how diverse they were. I feel really lucky that people who support my work followed me from ceramics to astrology, to tattoos, to illustrations and clothing, and anything else I got into creating.

Q: What was the inspiration behind writing your Healing & Self-Help book?

Rachel: This book is a kind of compilation and re-write of small essays that I would post on Instagram over the last few years. I felt they were meaningful writings, but had gotten lost in the void of past posts. I also had a large collection of drawings that I hadn't used for anything yet. So I collected everything together and assembled it into a cohesive book that could offer support for people on their own healing journeys. It came out the fall before the pandemic and quarantine happened, and I think it was good timing for it since people suddenly had a lot of time to read, think, and do some self-investigation and healing.

Q: What do you enjoy the most about collaborating with other brands?

Rachel: Most people I've collaborated with have been friends, people who I know and admire, and I feel connected to their work and the way they run their businesses. It's really fun when other people make interesting things, and then invite you into their process, like with the jewelry collection I made with Tuza. It's validating as an artist when people want to share their vision and work with you, and also humbling to learn more about materials and methods that others have mastered.

Illustrations

Small Spells has been featured in publications related to Astrology and Horoscopes, and she has also done illustrations for jewelry designers such as Tuza Jewelry, and Venyx World as well as publications and event posters. Her minimal approach to illustrations makes her work recognizable and playful.

Smudge+cover+smallspells+illustrations.jpg

Illustration work can be applied to anything and can feel very authentic and personal, as opposed to graphic design which leans more towards commercial use. Illustrations are more of a fine art form, in the sense that the work embodies that artist’s sensibility and style.

Illustrations are a visual way to portray or illustrate a written text and it helps to explain an idea or tell a story by providing a sort of decoration to the piece. Illustrations come in many forms both traditional and digital; and just like graphic design, illustrations can be applied to clothing, posters, and branding.

““Graphic design’s ability to deliver explicit messages makes it a major (if little recognized) force in the modern world: it is embedded in the commercial infrastructure. Illustration, on the other hand, with its woolly ambiguity and its allusive ability to convey feeling and emotion, makes it too dangerous to be allowed to enter the corporate bloodstream.””

— Adrian Shaughnessy

Apparel, Tarot Cards & Books

When Rachel began doing tarot readings and workshops she decided to illustrate her own deck along with a guidebook, which took her over a year to complete.

Her creativity goes beyond her illustrations and healing work, as she has always been a writer and often times likes to combine the two art forms. Her writing had led her to create a book of short inter-connected essays on different aspects of healing and self-help, with related illustrations throughout. You can also see the same theme of lo-fi illustrations along with her writing on her apparel line.

Using simple illustrations for apparel has become more and more popular with the rise of tattoo culture. Rachel’s love for stick and poke tattoos helped her develop her illustration style and making apparel has been another way to channel her creativity.

Check out: How To Make a Fashion illustration in Adobe Illustrator

March 19, 2021 | Author: by Irene Floridia