Rachel Stevens has been teaching sculpture at New Mexico State University since 1994. A native of the northeast (Connecticut, Maryland and New York), Rachel received her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and her MFA from Syracuse University. She attended The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture while still an undergrad at MICA. Rachel’s love of art has served as a flying carpet of sorts, inspiring travels to many countries around the world, including her Fulbright to Nepal in 2006. While in Nepal, Rachel studied ancient copper casting techniques with Newari icon makers and sojourned to sites that are sacred to Buddhist and Hindu pilgrims. These experiences culminated in her collaboration with the copper artisans of Sulav Studios, in Patan, Nepal, and the creation of two contemporary installations that are a conceptual and aesthetic blend of east and west. Rachel exhibits her sculpture nationally and was the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant. An ongoing project since 1996 is the restoration of a historic adobe duplex located in downtown Las Cruces, that serves as her home base and studio.