Rachel Marie Kabelitz

I was born and raised in Dorset, England. After school, I ventured to Germany, initially working as an au pair, followed by a three-year-long hospitality apprenticeship on the North Coast of Germany.

I spent three further years in Berlin where I met my husband. Our adventures continued with two years in Dublin, before crossing the pond to the United States. We lived in Jackson Hole, San Diego, Chicago, and Boulder, before settling in 2014 along the beautiful Chagrin River Valley in Gates Mills.

Embracing our love for the outdoors, we enjoy observing the wildlife in our garden, with snapping turtles, beavers, and herons among our regular visitors. Our vegetable garden and beehives keep us busy, and exploring the local metroparks, with Ohio's rich fauna, flora, and beautiful landscapes, provides endless inspiration for my collages.

RaMaKa emerged from a deep desire to create while appeasing my environmental consciousness. In a world full of excess and waste, I strive to minimize my ecological footprint. My collages are created solely from recycled content, including materials such as magazines, plastic packaging, styrofoam, chocolate wrappers, cork, tulle, plastic netting, broken ornaments, ribbons, and tissue paper. Each material, rich in texture and color, is a medium awaiting transformation into art