Rae Ostrander is a Florida born artist who primarily paints with collage and textile work featuring heavily. Rae’s work is normally centered on archetypal portrayals of the American west as influenced by mostly older films, literature, and music. Within their art, this iconography, which is strongly tied into male identity, is recontextualized by tapping into their disparate experiences with their gender identity throughout their youth and adult life.

These themes are explored via painting, mixed media incorporation, and sewing. The work is often informed by analogue and digital collages. These mashup typically feminine elements that speak to them such as flowers, horses, and bright colours. Often specific homages to cowboy fiction and to the aesthetics of a “horse girl”, as it is colloquially understood, are used.

  • 2025 - Florida State University. BFA in Studio Art

    2021 - Tallahassee Community College. A.A.

  • Solo Exhibition History:

    2025 - The Ballad of the Queer Outlaw: Understanding Queer Identity through the Cowboy, Phyllis Straus Gallery, Tallahassee FL

    Group Exhibition History:

    2025 - Everything I’ve Ever Known, Working Method Contemporary, Tallahassee, FL 

    Phyllis Straus Gallery, Tallahassee FL

    2025 - Apricari: A Place in the Sun, William Johnston Building Gallery, Tallahassee FL

    2025 - Locust Technician, Venvi Art Gallery, Tallahassee FL 

    2024 - BFA Expo, Carnaghi Arts Building, Tallahassee FL

    2024 -  Reserve, Phyllis Straus Gallery, Tallahassee FL

    2024 - Fibert8, Fine Arts Gallery, Tallahassee FL

    2024 - Land of the ***, Phyllis Straus Gallery, Tallahassee FL

    2024 - Bite from the Apple, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum, Quincy FL

    2024 - Department of Art Student Exhibition, Carnaghi Arts Building, Tallahassee FL

    2022 - Student Show, Tallahassee Community College Fine Art Gallery, Tallahassee FLtext goes here

  • 2025 - Honors in the Major for Undergraduate Research

    2025 - Ann Kirn Scholarship

    2025 - Susan and Mark Messersmith Art Scholarship

    2024 - Awardee in Excellence in Visual Arts Exhibition Award, Honors, Scholars, and Fellows House, Tallahassee, FL.

    2024 - Berlyn Arnett and Beryl Ann Henne Award in Art

    2023 - Art category Awardee for Eyrie 2023

    2022- Awardee in Undergraduate Research Symposium, Tallahassee Community College Union, Tallahassee FL

    2022 - Awardee in Student Show, Tallahassee Community College Fine Art Gallery, Tallahassee FL